


I Really Like Your Company

by Ketmuth



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Barebacking, Blow Jobs, Breast Fucking, Codependency, Drunk Sex, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Galo has one braincell and Lio is piloting it, Getting Together, Kissing, M/M, Nipple Play, Rimming, Slightly Unrealistic Sex, Switching, light humour
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-10-27 21:10:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20767001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ketmuth/pseuds/Ketmuth
Summary: "When was the last time you even had a day off where you weren't with Lio?" Lucia asked, smirking."Uhhhhh…""Careful, don't hurt your brain by thinking too hard," Remi quipped.Galo contemplates his relationship with Lio.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time publishing a fanfic pls go easy on me, I just fucking love Promare and needed to get my feelings about these two out.
> 
> The first chapter came out way different than I planned, but oh well here it is!!!!
> 
> Lewd stuff and a bit heavier emotional stuff to come in the next two chapters!!

"It's weird to see you without Lio, you two have been joined at the hip lately," was the first thing Lucia greeted Galo with when he met his team for pizza at the usual place.

"Joined at the hip? No way, I spend as much time with him as I do with you guys!" Galo smiled back at his friends as he took his seat. He was instantly met with four faces of various degrees of disbelief.

"Galo, when was the last time you didn't bring Lio to pizza with us?" Aina asked.

"You know... uh. You know that one time! Like a few weeks ago when he was- oh wait, no he came then too..." Galo trailed off, scratching his head.

"When was the last time you even had a day off where you weren't with Lio?" Lucia asked, smirking.

"Uhhhhh…"

"Careful, don't hurt your brain by thinking too hard," Remi quipped.

"Ok, sorry, sorry! Didn't mean to make you guys feel bad, you're still my best friends too!" Galo flashed them his best smile, trying to reassure them that yeah, he spent a lot of time with Lio, but they were a team, everyone was important to him!

It had been a few months since the Promare disappeared, leaving the Burnish without their flames and Promepolis in wreckage. The Burning Rescue division had a lot less fires to deal with now, instead focusing their efforts into cleaning, relocating, and rehabilitating people who were affected, especially previous Burnish.

Lio had quickly become an official member, and willingly took the lead in as many Burnish related issues as he was physically capable of. He may have complained at the first sight of all the wreckage, but Galo quickly learned that when it came to the Burnish (or, well, ex-Burnish now) Lio never once backed down, never once let their voices go unheard. Despite the sticky financial situation after their whole local government quite literally collapsed, Lio put 110% effort into all of his work. In Galo's opinion, he was a perfect addition to their team.

Galo also quickly learned that it was entirely too easy to spend entire days at Lio's side.

It was... new.

Galo loved people, he really did. He loved helping people, he loved being helped by people. But before joining Burning Rescue, Galo spent a lot of time alone. Sure, he had friends, but more often than not he would be coming home to an empty flat with no family, skipping out on a lot of friend time after school hours to prepare for when he would enter the workforce. Taking on a job where people’s lives were in his hands was no small feat, and he couldn’t let Kray down, let himself down.

The most Galo had ever really been around people was after he joined Burning Rescue, but even then, Lio was a whole other story.

It was almost as if being away from Lio was like losing a limb he didn't even know he had. Galo had been told he was an idiot by just about anyone who had known him longer than 10 seconds, but now it felt like he had to meet a minimum quota of Lio calling him an idiot each day or else something felt missing. Today happened to be a rare day where they both had time scheduled off. Galo was looking forward to spending the whole day sparring with Lio and maybe grabbing breakfast, lunch, and dinner together, but his old Mad Burnish buddies stole him away. Galo didn't mind too much, but man. Man, he wished Lio was here.

So maybe piloting a giant mech powered by multidimensional space aliens that connected his heart and soul to the other pilot who happened to be the same person to single handedly overthrow his entire worldview ended up changing him fundamentally as a person a little. Who knew?

Galo really tried not to think about that too much. Sure, he may have been taking on more Burnish related jobs than the other team members just to spend more time with Lio, and yeah he may or may not have started sleeping in the same bed as Lio sometimes starting last week, and maybe he felt that Lio could understand him more than anyone else on Earth because of what they had been through together or whatever, but it wasn't that big of a deal, _really._

Galo zoned in and out of the conversation, too busy thinking about Lio, and by the time he came to, he realized that he was being stared at again.

“Hmmpf?” Galo tried to respond, mouth full of cheese and marinara sauce.

“You’ve been awfully quiet,” Lucia went after him again.

“Oh no, he really did hurt himself from thinking. He can barely even speak now, tragic,” Remi mourned his friend.

Galo swallowed and considered a few things before speaking again.

“I guess I do spend a lot of time with Lio now.”

“Wow, y’think?” Aina nudged playfully at Galo’s side before leaning back and smiling, a genuine smile. “Well, I can’t complain too much. You two really are unmatched as a duo, it’s pretty amazing. You’ve been getting a lot done together.”

Galo smiled back at her. At least someone else around here got it! Him and Lio were unstoppable together!

Varys finished up the last bites of his own whole pizza before commenting too. “Well, it’s natural that you'd want to spend more time with your boyfriend than your friends, it’s not a big deal.” Varys’ tone, unlike the others, came across as completely sincere.

Galo almost nodded in agreement before the words sank in.

“But Lio’s not my boyfriend," Galo said, confused. Boyfriend? Him and Lio never really discussed the nature of their relationship, but somehow that didn't sound quite right... "Just because we kissed once doesn’t mean we’re dating-”

“What? When did you guys kiss-”

“It’s just easy to be around him I guess? I mean, we do a lot of the same work-”

“Galo, you _kissed_-”

“It was a CPR kiss! Y’know, to save his life? And there was like, Promare involved? Listen, I think if anything I prefer to have my first kiss as an act of heroism-”

“A CPR kiss isn’t a thing, it’s either CPR or a kiss-”

“It was your first kiss?”

“_Galo_-”

“ANYWAY!” Galo smacked his palm on the little restaurant table for emphasis, rattling around the many empty pizza trays and silencing the group, “I may love spending time with Lio, and he’s attractive and all, and irreplaceable to me and… uh, I forgot where I was going with that, but basically we’re not dating or anything, okay?”

Galo was hoping that would be the end of that, but it took all of about 3 seconds for the questions to flood back in.

“_Just_ spending time huh.”

“You think he’s attractive?”

“Have you told him all this?”

“You should go on a date-”

“UGHH, you guys just don’t get it, forget about it already!” Galo leaned his elbows on the table and pulled at his hair. Seriously, Galo loved his team, but they just didn’t understand him sometimes.

Lio understood. Even when he was being “stupid” or “unrealistic” or “an absolute disaster of a human being” and all the other things Lio liked to call him, Lio _always_ took the time to hear him out. It would be easy to brush off most of the things Galo said, but he never did.

Galo leaned back and sighed.

“And for the record, if any of you say you don’t think he’s attractive, you’re fuckin’ lying.”

To their credit, everyone at the table quietly murmured their agreement.

Honestly, Galo thought you'd have to be blind to think that Lio wasn't hot. Like, _c'mon man_. He wasn't even Galo's type (so _maybe_ he thought about Kray's pecs a little too much as a teen, and _maybe_ he spent a little too long admiring the way Aina's outfit hugged her chest when he was a newbie. He was a tit guy, sue him!) but he was more than willing to admit that Lio had a stunning face, bangin' body, and killer style. It was just a fact of life.

“Who are you talking about?” Lio said.

Galo jumped out of his skin as Lio walked up behind him followed by Gueira and Meis.

“Lio! We were talking about uh…” Galo frantically tried to turn to his teammates for help. Not a single one of them even looked at him. Some fucking rescue team they all were.

“Y’know, uh… Vinny,” Galo saved, smartly. Nice.

Lio’s face was the definition of unimpressed. “Vinny. The rat.”

Lucia fucking cackled.

“Yeah, he’s just so… cute and fluffy! A very handsome rat! Just look at him!” Galo looked around near his feet to find Vinny eating trash off the concrete. _Nice._

Gueira and Meis exchanged looks from behind Lio. Galo pretended that he didn’t just make himself look even dumber than normal in front of Lio’s other friends.

Lio just sighed, “Well, your phrasing never ceases to astound me, but he is rather cute.” Lio leaned down and gave Vinny an affectionate pat on the head. The rat squeaked with joy, and Lio smiled, which then caused Galo to smile. The rest of the table shared knowing looks.

“So Lio,” Lucia began, the mischievous tone of her voice already making Galo sweat, “you have any other important plans for the rest of your day off?”

“Not in particular,” Lio said.

Gueira draped an arm around Lio. “We’d love to steal the Boss for the whole day, but unfortunately we got called in for some stuff.”

Lio smiled fondly at him. “Next time,” he said, patting his friend’s arm. Meis gave him an affectionate pat on the back as well before beckoning Gueira back the way they came. They said their goodbyes and waved until they were too far down the street to reasonably justify it. Lio turned back to the table. “Why did you ask?”

“Galo had something he wanted to tell you,” Remi said, pushing up his glasses. Galo sent him the strongest death glare he could manage, but unfortunately Galo was just far too cool and heroic for it to hold enough weight to make his friend shut the fuck up. “In private," Remi added.

Lio looked a bit surprised, and Galo didn’t blame him. Whenever either of them had anything to say, they tended to just say it instantly. It was rare for anyone else to hear about whatever was on Galo’s mind before Lio. “Oh. Alright,” Lio said.

“You two go on ahead, we’ll catch up with you later,” Aina added, looking a little too excited, adding in a wink for emphasis. Galo had never felt so abandoned by his own team.

“Th… thanks guys,” Galo gritted out, standing up stiffly.

Varys and Lucia had the gall to give him a thumbs up. He gave them a withering smile.

“We’re not covering your part of the tab though,” Remi added as Galo and Lio began their walk towards the Rescue building.

🔥-🔥-🔥-🔥

“So, what is it?” Lio began as they made their way down a street with just the two of them. A few of the buildings in this area had received some pretty heavy fire damage a few months ago and still needed some heavy repairs, so there weren’t a lot of people down this way.

Galo felt… nervous. Which was definitely weird. He’d never once felt nervous when talking with Lio. Galo scratched at his head. “It’s nothing, the crew was just teasing me about some stuff.”

“Some stuff?” Lio replied, “What stuff?"

Ugh, Galo really couldn't keep anything from him, could he. Galo sighed. Might as well just tell him. It felt wrong not being able to tell Lio anything and everything. (Much to Lio's annoyance, having snapped at Galo on multiple occasions for having to hear every unnecessary detail of a book he read about defunct East Asian firefighting techniques and the story about how he saw a really big bird trapped in the grocery store once. To Galo's credit, the bird really was big.)

Galo ignored the weird warm and tingly sensation on his face as he steeled himself to explain the situation. "They were saying you were my boyfriend and stuff."

"... Oh."

Oh?

"Oh?" Galo parroted, intelligently.

"Oh. I see."

Galo sure didn't.

He cleared his throat. "Not that, uh, that would be bad. It's just, we… aren't? It's like…" Galo struggled to put what he was feeling into words, even though it all came out so easily earlier. It didn't help that Lio didn't say anything further. Galo chanced glancing down at his face and was met with Lio's blank stare directed straight towards him. Galo's hands felt numb and sweaty.

"It's uh, like. You're more important to me than that."

The pace of their walk had slowed drastically, and at this point Lio let it crawl to a halt. He was still looking at Galo but Galo couldn't tell if he was actually focusing on him or on his own thoughts. "Important…" Lio repeated back to him.

"Yeah. You're important to me. No one else gets me like you do," Galo felt more confident saying it like that, because it was undeniably true. Him and Lio were tied together by fate, the sun, the moon, planets, and stars, the Promare, and whatever other weird shit got them together and shoved them into a giant robot to save the planet. Quite literally, no one else could understand that.

But Galo meant it in another way too, that other way where Lio could just tell what Galo was thinking. Like when Galo would get hungry he'd find out that Lio had already ordered him food, or when they'd look at new designs from Lucia they would be on the exact same page on how they wanted to make it cooler. Lio sparred in a way that kept Galo on his toes in all the right ways, and he fit surprisingly well in Galo's arms whenever they cuddled in bed on nights where Lio needed the company. Lio was just _there_ for him, Lio _got_ him.

Lio's expression softened a bit. "I feel the same," he said, because of course he did. Galo didn't doubt that. Galo wasn’t an expert in reading people (or an expert in much of anything besides firefighting, maybe) but as well as Lio could understand him, he felt that he understood Lio too. Galo had always taken it as fact that he was as important to Lio as Lio was to him. Looking into Lio’s eyes now, hearing Lio say it so directly, Galo had never felt more certain of that.

Galo grinned, "Right? So that's why we're not boyfriends, it's totally different."

… Right?

Lio seemed to genuinely ponder this for a moment before his expression steeled into something else. Lio turned fully towards Galo and took a step towards him, bringing the already small space between them even smaller. Galo's heart felt funny.

Lio reached his hand to the collar of Galo's t-shirt and tugged him down so they were face to face. Lio’s eyes were bright and intense, unwavering and full of an emotion that Galo couldn’t put into words. Wow, if Galo's heart felt funny before it must be telling a whole damn comedy routine now with the way it worked itself into overdrive.

"I'm going to try something," Lio said, voice quiet, private and meant only for Galo. Galo nodded the slightest bit. There was no point in disagreeing with him anyway. Lio was unstoppable once he decided to do something, no matter how small that thing was. But Galo trusted him, Lio knew what he was doing.

Lio pressed their lips together.

Galo's immediate reaction was a shard of fear poking at the back of his heart. The first and last time this happened, Lio was on death's door, and Galo's body certainly didn't forget it. Without thinking, Galo's hands came forward to grip at Lio's arms, desperate to make sure he was still in tact, still solid in front of him.

And he was.

Lio's body was comfortably warm and firm in his grip. The rush of fear turned into something else very quickly. Something much more bright that melted whatever fear Galo may have had before. The hand Lio had used to clutch onto Galo's shirt ended up snaking behind his neck to hold his head in place. Fortunately, Galo wasn't planning on going anywhere.

It was a gentle kiss, just their mouths pressed comfortably together as they shared each other's space and breath. Lio was the first to pull away, looking much more pleased than before, like he figured something out. Galo felt dazed and full of adrenaline that he wasn't sure what to do with.

"I find you very attractive too, Galo Thymos," Lio smiled up at him. Galo's face felt like it was going to melt, but he couldn't help but smile too.

"Sorry I wasn't honest with you earlier," Galo said.

"It's fine," Lio said, moving to close the gap between them with an embrace. Galo's arms fell around him easily, sliding into place. Galo felt silly for being nervous earlier. It was _Lio_, he had nothing to worry about.

"So, like," Galo began, "boyfriends, yes or no? I still don't think it sounds right, but if we're gonna be kissing and stuff then I guess it is…?" Galo felt like it didn't have the right weight. 'Boyfriend' sounded so kiddish, like this was a cute little fling or something. Whatever they had together was anything but that in Galo's opinion. "Ugh, there's probably a better word for it…"

Lio hummed against his chest. "I don't care what you call me," he answered honestly, "but you're not allowed to kiss anyone else."

Galo burst out laughing, his chest shaking them both, "Wasn't planning on it!"

Lio pulled away again, still smiling.

Galo truly felt like him and Lio were connected by fate. Galo had never felt such an intense connection in his life. Lio had changed everything for him since the day they met, and he knew that when they were together they could do anything. As if nothing could get between them, as if the universe had planned their lives together since the beginning…

"Oh!" Galo exclaimed, realization hitting him over the head, "You're like, my soulmate!"

Now it was Lio's turn to get embarrassed, face red, already walking off and calling Galo an idiot under his breath.

Galo took it that Lio felt the same.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Galo contemplates his sex life with Lio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the support on the first chapter!! It makes me so happy to know that everyone loves these two just as much as I do, I'm really glad that people had fun reading it!!!
> 
> Second of all, I'm so sorry, this chapter is almost entirely smut.
> 
> Third of all, I have no idea how the bathrooms work in their building. Please cut me some slack on the description of their living situation skdjfdfgkj

Honestly, not much changed between Galo and Lio after they became ‘an item.’ They were already spending most of their time working together, most of their free time together, and most of their nights together. They already told each other everything, shared everything they felt with each other. To Galo, they were two hearts functioning as one.

The biggest difference for sure was the kissing.

Galo was amazed at just how _easy_ it was. And how addictive. _Really_ addictive. Galo found himself trying to sneak kisses between work, early in the morning, late at night, basically any time Lio would let him. That’s not to say Lio wasn’t also taking initiative in their mutual newfound addiction, often pulling Galo aside before going out anywhere just to shove his tongue down his throat for a single heated moment.

Galo _loved_ it, he couldn't get enough of it, but at the same time, he wondered if things were ever going to turn into… _more._

Not that he wasn’t happy with how things were, but… Lio was hot. Really hot. Like, _really_ hot.

Not temperature-wise though, ironically. Lio got cold easily now that he didn’t have his Burnish fire heating him up constantly. It was an interesting adjustment at first, one Galo didn’t even consider being a thing until he noticed Lio frequently shivering the first few days after the Promare had gone back to their dimension. Galo had always wondered if Lio got too warm in his favored black leather get-ups, but after seeing him shaking like a leaf during the slightest breeze, Galo never questioned it again. Galo did make it a habit to start bringing his own firefighter’s coat with them everywhere to make sure Lio had the extra layer if he needed it. Bonus points for Galo’s jacket being way too big for Lio, it was an unbearably cute look.

Lio had acquired a habit of taking very long, very hot showers and baths most days. In theory there was nothing wrong with this. Lio was always wonderfully cuddly after his baths, all clean and fresh smelling, warm and soft in Galo’s arms at night.

The only issue was Galo getting eyefuls of Lio clad in just a towel, slim and toned body flushed and dripping all over, pretty much every day. Then Lio would come to Galo's room and just… sleep.

Before, Galo tried not to stare out of respect for the other man. It’s already been established by anyone with eyes that Lio was hotter than hell, he didn’t want to be a creep about it by staring at him all the time in the showers or wherever.

But they were like, together now, right? Why weren’t they banging every night again?

Galo legitimately wracked his brain and unfortunately found his answer quickly. They had been really busy, every day was busy, and whatever little time they had together was spent sparring, kissing, or sleeping. Galo thought that maybe they could slip some fucking into the allotted kissing time, but it wouldn’t be fun to rush it like that. It’d be nice if he could take his time, they could do whatever they wanted to each other without worrying about anything else…

Galo sighed to himself and flopped on his bed. Lio had gotten back later than Galo, leaving Galo in his room by himself for the time being. Galo should be asleep by now. He was probably taking his shower right now, and Galo was missing out on his eye-candy for the day. Frankly, he was starting to feel so pent up that he didn’t know if he could handle it anyway. His dick twitched at all the mental images of Lio that he filed away in his brain.

Galo glanced at the clock on his nightstand, telling him it was getting late already. Really, he barely even had the time to jack off, but...

The Lio in his head was fully naked, Galo could perfectly picture everything from the waist up at least. Flat, toned chest, thin waist, narrow hips, pink nipples… Galo imagined what it would be like if Lio smiled up at him, cheeks flushed, pulling Galo into the shower by his arm, their bodies sliding together easily as steaming water covered them head to toe, making everything slippery and hot…

Galo let his hand drift to his dick, already getting hard in his pajama pants. He imagined it was Lio’s hand, teasing up and down his shaft, Lio in front of him, on top of him, Lio, _Lio_-

There was a knock at the door.

Galo ripped his hand away from his dick faster than if it had burned him. It couldn’t have been anyone but Lio. Knocking was just out of courtesy, Galo and Lio had an agreement that if Galo didn't open the door late at night, Lio was allowed to just come in anyway, so there was no use in staying quiet. God dammit, he didn’t have time to finish but the last thing he wanted to do was turn his beloved partner away now.

He’d just have to answer the door with his boner out like a real man.

That said, Galo tried to inconspicuously keep his lower half behind the door when he opened it. Lio stood there, pajamas already on and hair still damp. He looked even better in person than in Galo’s fantasies and his dick perked up further, only urged on by Lio’s confidence when he walked past Galo into his room. Galo caught a whiff of his shampoo and his heart rattled in his chest.

Lio didn’t notice anything off at first, comfortable enough coming here to immediately situate himself in Galo’s desk chair and pull out his ipad that he had left there the night before, presumably to get some work done. He didn't even bother greeting Galo, this already being part of their routine. Lio was quite the workaholic, but Galo couldn’t blame him. He had a lot he wanted to get done and did everything to make it happen. Galo’s heart and dick ached.

Galo quickly made his way back to his own bed and tried to pose himself in a way where his dick wouldn’t be obvious. He ended up on his stomach, head propped up so he could face Lio. “Have a nice shower?”

“Mmhmm,” Lio said, not even looking up, already too focused on work to pay attention to poor, sweet, long-suffering Galo. He only wanted to make sure his dearest partner was having a nice night. And also possibly get his dick wet.

Galo admired his lover’s body from his place on the bed, resisting the urge to grind his hips down into it. Lio had faced the chair towards the bed, the desk behind him. He had gotten into a habit of sitting like that thanks to nights where Galo would constantly pester him as he tried to get things done, and it was easier than having to continuously swivel around. Lio had his legs crossed but in that open, manspready kinda way. His pajama pants today were some large shorts, so Galo could see a glimpse of his thighs. Galo sighed heavily.

“What is it?” Lio asked, not looking up, used to engaging with Galo’s mindless banter. Lio recognized it was later than usual as well, not wasting any time with trying to get to the point of Galo's conversation.

Galo sighed again. Words tumbled out of his mouth without thinking, as usual. “Do you ever think about sex?”

“Yes,” Lio said, still not even glancing up.

Oh.

Welp.

Galo expected more of a… reaction. “Cool. Me too.”

“Great,” Lio muttered, clearly still too invested in reading things on his ipad than actually holding a conversation or, y’know, doing anything sexy. Galo groaned and flipped around on his bed, too frustrated to care any more if Lio saw his half-chub. Galo gazed at Lio a little longer before deciding to keep prodding at him. Maybe he’d just keep going until Lio got embarrassed, or until he just told him to stop. Galo’s brain was running on horny power and it was screaming at him to shoot his shot (literally) while his dick was still raring to go.

“You’re hot,” Galo said, putting on his best smoldering sexy face for when Lio inevitably got embarrassed and looked up at him.

“I know.”

…

Ok, different approach.

“Do you think I’m ho-”

“Yes,” Lio actually did look up this time. _Success,_ but now Galo was the one feeling flustered. His smoldering gaze felt more like a dopey, love-struck stare now.

“Really? What do you like about me?”

“Your chest,” Lio replied without a moment of hesitation, his eyes already moving down to focus on Galo’s pecs, “but the rest of you is good too,” he added as his eyes moved back up to meet Galo’s.

Galo was sweating. Lio's answer was surprising, but the more Galo thought about it, he realized the signs were all there. Lio buried his face in Galo’s chest at night a little too fervently for someone with a merely platonic interest. He'd also caught Lio staring on a few occasions, but honestly he thought he could have just been mirin' his gains. Galo silently appreciated his partner’s mutual interest in nice tits.

Galo tried to hold eye contact as long as he could so Lio wouldn’t look back at his screen again. It was easy, considering how gorgeous Lio was, Galo could stare at him forever. Galo moved one of his hands to his chest and squeezed his whole palm around it. Lio’s gaze following his movements didn't go unnoticed. Galo felt a surge of confidence at his audience of one finally giving him some attention.

“My chest, huh?”

“Yeah,” Lio’s eyes were fully focused on Galo’s hands now, his own hands slowly lowering the ipad into his lap.

Galo worked out a lot, he was confident in his body and loved getting compliments about it. It helped that he was fond of going shirtless whenever he was allowed to. But it was entirely different to see Lio so focused on him, an unspoken hunger starting to shine through his eyes. Galo suppressed a shiver as he trailed his fingers around his nipples. He didn’t usually touch his chest when he masturbated or anything, so the sensation was a little unusual, but Lio seemed to like it. Galo kept going.

Lio finally set the ipad down on the desk behind him and assumed a pose in his chair identical to the one he did the first time Galo ever laid eyes on him. Legs spread far, head leaning into his hand. Whatever shiver Galo suppressed came back tenfold, memories of their first fight filling him with a myriad of emotions. Lio had sat in this position many times since then, Galo thought he was used to seeing it, but when it was aimed at Galo like this, tension prickling the air, Galo fully vulnerable in front of him...

Was it wrong to get off on how well Lio fought? Lio was so… _powerful._ Every time Lio fought, either with him or against him, Galo’s blood absolutely _boiled_ in the best way. Galo felt incredibly lucky that he managed to capture the attention of someone like him, lucky that he could keep his attention both in combat and the bedroom.

“Why don’t you come over here, _Boss?_” Galo goaded, repeating his own challenge from the past.

“Why don’t you make me?” Lio shot back, grinning with more than a hint of mischief in his eyes.

Galo briefly wondered if the fire in his soul actually set the room ablaze for a moment with the heat that hit him after hearing that. Oh, it was _on._

Galo wasn’t kidding when he said he was confident in his body. He licked his lips and readjusted himself on the bed yet again, this time to where he was on his back with his ass facing Lio, legs propped up and spread on the bed. He framed his view of Lio between his legs. Galo's hard-on was unmistakable now. Galo trailed his hand from his chest slowly down his abs, teasing at the top of his pants.

"I still have work to do," Lio pretended to argue, no weight to his words.

"Knowing you, it's probably stuff that you don't have to do until next week anyway," Galo said back playfully, not surprised when Lio didn't disagree. Galo ran his hand over his bulge, trying to not give into the sensation and break the tension in the room. His hand remained controlled and full of intent.

“It’s getting late.” Lio’s eyes followed his hand.

“I’ll take responsibility if you don’t get up early enough tomorrow.” Galo ran his free hand through his hair in a way that he hoped looked hot. It looked good when he practiced in the mirror, at least.

"You're a moron."

"You're sexy. Do you actually want to come over here and do something or should I just have fun by myself?"

Lio contemplated his options. "I don't mind this little show you're putting on for me," he said, grin returning, prolonging their competition to see who would buckle under the other first.

_Fine then,_ Galo thought, half excited at the challenge, half disappointed that Lio wasn't all over him by now. Galo would just have to kick things up a notch.

Galo pulled his pants all the way down, dick springing up to greet the world in its excitement. Galo never look his eyes off Lio once, meaning he saw the way Lio's smug smile faltered and the way his throat bobbed and tensed when he swallowed.

Galo spit into one of his hands and pumped his own dick, agonizingly slow. Slower than he would ever do it on his own, but he wanted to rile up Lio enough to have him take matters into his own hands. It seemed to be working bit by bit. Galo could see Lio's erection now too and it just spurred him on further. Galo broke his eye contact with his partner and leaned his head back onto his bed, free hand coming up to touch his chest again, groping himself and hoping it looked inviting. He exaggerated a moan and hiss, but it did feel really good to get some relief. Knowing Lio was watching just made it more exciting.

Galo kept at it for a while before getting frustrated. Ok, Lio should _definitely_ be over here by now, what gives? Galo peeked his head back up to see Lio still sitting in the chair, but his hand had moved to rub himself through his pants in a similar way to what Galo was doing earlier.

"No fair!" Galo accused, "You weren't supposed to start without me!"

Lio deadpanned. "Then what the hell have you been doing?"

Galo sighed hard. He had no choice. He had to do _that._

Galo stopped touching himself completely, and rolled around his bed a bit. He heard Lio audibly 'tsk.'

"Why'd you stop?" Lio sounded frustrated. _Good._

Galo sighed again, excessively dramatic and loud, "I just… I just can't get into it by myself… I think… I think I need someone to do it for me." He turned to Lio with the most pathetic puppy dog eyes he could manage.

Lio looked like he was ready to decapitate him. _"Seriously?"_

Galo had never been more serious in his life. "Seriously."

Seconds ticked by like hours, neither one of them budging.

Now was Lio's turn to sigh, sincerely. "Well, if it can't be helped…" Lio stood up and pulled his own shirt off. Oh fuck yes. Galo's felt tingles down his spine.

Lio was quick to straddle Galo to the bed, keeping him still this time. Lio's ass was right over his dick, the fabric of his pajamas creating a new sensation for Galo, an actual groan escaping his mouth this time. Lio leaned over to kiss him, tongue invading his partner's mouth immediately.

It felt _really good_, the wet heat of Lio's mouth connecting down to the soft heat of his clothes and body on Galo's. Galo shifted his hips around, a weak attempt at dry humping Lio's legs in their position, but Lio broke away before he could do it long.

Lio wasted no time in aggressively grabbing fistfuls of Galo's chest, Galo letting out a shocked yelp. Lio had copped some feels during their heavier make out sessions before, but he wasn't holding back anything now. Hot muscle beneath his cool palms, Lio slid his hands into a position where he could thumb at Galo's nipples.

Galo felt flustered and desperate. He'd never had someone express so much interest in his body before, he didn't realize his nipples felt so sensitive when someone else was touching them. Lio rolled and groped his hands around for a while, Galo almost felt like he was receiving some dirty massage. Lio surprised him again by leaning down and putting his mouth around one of his nipples and jesus _christ_-

Lio chuckled at Galo's reactions, the hum of his voice just sending more vibrations through Galo, electric and pleasurable. Galo pet one of his hands through Lio's hair as he sucked and licked at his chest. It felt overwhelmingly good and so new. Galo was willing to let Lio do it as long as he wanted, his dick feeling the aftershocks coursing through his nervous system.

But then Lio adjusted his head, hair tickling Galo below him. Galo squirmed.

Lio ignored it and Galo tried to as well, but then it happened again-

"Galo, you're moving around too much," Lio broke away to say, his lips pink and wet.

"Mmfff, aha- sorry, it tickled…" Galo tried to hold back his smile.

Lio just went back to what he was doing, switching sides to pay attention to Galo's other nipple. It felt just as good, better this time even, as Lio sucked hard with more intent. But then Lio's hair was back, and Galo just couldn't help it, it tickled so much-

"Liiiooooo, aha, hahaha-" Galo squirmed around even more, "it's too ticklish, for real!"

Lio pulled back with a sigh, hands coming back to where his mouth just was to give a few more squeezes, Galo relaxing into the pleasure again.

But then Lio _intentionally_ tickled his rib cage! What the hell!

Galo jolted so hard he nearly knocked Lio off of him. "Lio!"

"Not my fault if you're ticklish," Lio said, looking smug, pretending he didn't do a damn thing.

Galo immediately reached up to retaliate, and Lio realized what was happening in that split second before Galo's fingers reached their target. "No wait, Galo don't-"

But it was far too late. Galo's fingers shoved into Lio's armpits, the smaller man instantly wheezing and sputtering out broken laughter on top of him.

_"You're moving around too much,"_ Galo mimicked Lio's voice back to him playfully.

"Sto- aha stop, stop!" Lio pushed his hands away and Galo calmed himself down, settling his hands on Lio's hips as truce. Lio looked way too cute like this, face flushed and mouth caught in a smile he couldn't help. Galo felt warm, his own smile taking up his whole face.

"Fine," Lio breathed out, chest still heaving, a pleasant and endearing bubbliness in his voice, "I'll just have to do something else, then."

Lio shuffled himself further down Galo's body, hands trailing behind him down the grooves of Galo's ribs, his abs, his hip bones, before finally coming down to circle around his dick. Galo could have sworn his soul left his body for a moment. It came back in time for him to realize that Lio was lowering his mouth to Galo's head.

Lio kissed the tip, ironically chaste considering it was his _mouth_ on _Galo's dick._ Lio's eyes peeked back up at Galo, silently asking for permission. Galo nodded his head so hard that he saw stars.

Lio's tongue was hot and velvety on the underside of his cock. Galo tried keeping his hands to himself, wanting Lio to go at his own pace. It was slow, almost as slow as the pace Galo was touching himself earlier, but much, much hotter. Much more intense.

Lio was a very serious person. He serious in everything he did, and this was no exception. The pure focus and attention that Lio gave Galo was intoxicating. If Galo thought kissing was addicting then he was gonna have to go to rehab after this. Lio’s tongue ran up and down the side of Galo's prick, breath ghosting over it, heating and cooling rapidly. Galo's head was spinning. The visuals and the stimulation were too much for his long suffering cock. He wasn't sure how long he would last.

"Lio- _fuck,_ you're so good," he wheezed out. Lio just hummed, the vibration affirming Galo's feelings.

Galo wasn't one to brag (except for when he was, which was actually most of the time) but he considered himself well endowed. Galo couldn't help but admire the way Lio's petite hands and mouth covered him, the difference in their bodies only exciting him further. As he was appreciating it, Lio decided to take Galo into his mouth as far as he could and _sucked._

Galo nearly blacked out.

Lio's mouth was _burning_ hot and _tight_. Galo felt the heat travel up and all through his body. Lio had to press Galo's thighs back down into the bed, Galo not having realized he had been arching himself up to try to get further inside. Lio worked Galo with just his mouth, using both hands to grip his lover's thighs, holding them to the bed. Lio continued at the same slow pace, trying his best to stretch his mouth around his girth without getting his teeth in the way. Lio couldn't take the entire thing in his mouth, opting instead to focus more on the sensation of sucking and licking.

Galo let out a stream of praises, urging Lio on. Every movement sent waves of pleasure through him, approaching a peak higher than he had ever reached on his own.

But then Lio pulled his mouth off. Galo actually did bring his hand to Lio's head now, not wanting him to pull away, gently asking him to _keep going for the love of god._

"How do you want to cum?" Lio asked, voice low and raspy, one of his hands moving down to gingerly roll around Galo's balls.

"Yes," Galo breathed out, overwhelmed.

Lio stared pointedly at him. "Great, but that didn't answer my question." Lio leaned forward again, his breath playing around Galo's dick.

"How do you want to cum?" Lio repeated. "Choose or I'll choose for you."

God, Galo was _so close_ and there was more blood in his dick than his brain right now-

"You choose, don't care, anything's fine, _fuck..._"

Lio went quiet and still for a moment, considering a few things. "Do you have any lube?"

Galo could barely hear him through the blood pumping in his ears. "What?"

"Lube," Lio repeated.

"Under the bed," he managed to wheeze out.

Lio slipped off the bed and Galo missed him already. It was hard effort to not grab his dick again and just finish himself off, but he felt that letting Lio take his time would be worth it.

Lio fished around until he found a small bottle and made his way back onto the bed with it. This time, when he sat between Galo's legs, he gripped the underside of Galo's thighs and forcefully spread them up and out. Lio popped open the lube and squeezed some out onto his fingers.

"What are you gonna do with that?" Galo asked in a daze.

"It's going up your ass," Lio said matter of factly before glancing up. "If that's ok."

Oh.

Well, Galo had never done _that_ before, but it was never too late to start.

Frankly there was so much dopamine and adrenaline pumping through his brain at the time, Galo just nodded, curious to see how it felt. He'd heard about dudes jacking it with a pinky up their ass and how it was apparently life changing, but he didn't really expect to be doing it now. But, well, they'd come this far and Lio seemed interested in doing it. Might as well see what the hype was about.

Lio's fingers were cold, and they felt even colder when they were wet and pressing against the place where the sun doesn't shine. Galo tensed up subconsciously.

"Relax," Lio said, "I can't fit it in if you're too tight."

Lio's phrasing almost made Galo feel like he was watching a cheesy porno. He took deep breaths, trying to calm down enough to let Lio do what he wanted. He tried to focus on how hot and pretty Lio looked sitting between his legs, mouth still swollen and shiny, cheeks flushed, skin shining. It was then that Galo realized Lio hadn't taken off his own pants yet, which was absolutely criminal.

"Lio your pants are still o- OOAAAHHN-" Lio slipped his finger in while he was talking and Galo's voice decided it had a mind of its own.

If Galo having his nipples touched was new, this was a whole other unexplored world he didn't even know existed. It didn’t feel bad, and Lio had used enough lube to where it didn’t hurt, it was just… so _different._ Maybe a little bit more exciting than Galo might have admit.

Lio slipped a second finger in and Galo squirmed, not unlike the way he did earlier while being tickled. Galo absentmindedly wondered if this was technically Lio's second time being inside of him (tongues not included.) Galo held Lio's fire inside of him after all, breath and life passing between their bodies. Honestly, Galo much preferred not having to be deal with any fires this time. No offense to the interdimensional aliens or anything.

Galo started believing he was getting used to the feeling before Lio adjusted his angle and twisted his fingers a certain way and _holy shit oh my god, that was good._

He must have looked like he felt good, because Lio just smiled and pressed his fingers in the same way, holding it longer this time. Galo's body was wracked with pleasure.

His legs were numb, his insides felt liquid and so fucking hot. Lio must have been some kind of fucking exorcist because Galo's soul was definitely gone by now. Whatever noises that came out of his mouth were entirely involuntary.

Lio pulled away from that spot once more and Galo tried to catch his breath, but before he knew it Lio went back to it _again_ and he didn't let up this time. He pounded his fingers inside Galo relentlessly.

Galo fucking _came._

Galo didn't have time to register what was happening, it was pure waves of pleasure and heat, passing through his body leaving no inch untouched. He splattered his own cum across his abs, nearly reaching his chest. His voice came out strangled and desperate, barely recognizable to himself.

Galo couldn't recall the last time he came like that, if he ever had at all.

When Galo fully came to, his mind felt so fuzzy, so hazy, and so desperate for Lio. He opened his eyes (he didn't remember shutting them) eager to see what Lio's reaction was.

Lio looked like he was about to eat him alive.

Galo hoped he would.

"Good boy," Lio said.

Galo whimpered.

Lio still had his fingers inside Galo and he took the time to slowly draw them out. Galo's knees were weak and rubbery, body still reeling. Lio made sure Galo was looking at him before he used his clean hand to wipe through Galo's mess and bring it to his mouth. Galo's jaw dropped as he watched _Lio fucking Fotia_ swallow _his cum_ without so much as blinking.

Galo had never been so in love in his life.

He wanted to tell Lio that, but his throat felt so raw and dry and his chest was still heaving hard and Lio... still had his pants on?

"Lio… you didn't... cum yet," Galo managed, trying to reach out to him.

Lio's hand met his and he laced their fingers, both of their hands dirty and sweaty. Not what Galo was going for but there was no way he was letting go now.

"I was planning to do that inside of you, but you finished without me," Lio said. Galo felt embarrassed, both at his early climax and from hearing about Lio's intent.

"Whose fault is that?" Galo breathed. He shifted his attention back to Lio's pants. "Want you to cum too,” Galo got out, too tired to be anything less than direct.

Lio huffed out a laugh before he reached up to grip Galo’s hair and pushed his head down into the bed. Lio kissed Galo aggressively, open mouthed and vicious, still fiery, still hungry compared to Galo's now languid movements. Despite the voracity of it all, Galo found the kiss deeply comforting, more familiar than all the other stuff Lio had done tonight. Maybe it was the afterglow talking but he couldn't wait to scoop Lio into his arms and hug him all night. Maybe even kiss the top of his head if he got lucky.

But Lio was still burning up, and Galo desperately wanted to see his dick before they stopped for the night. Galo's arms were still heavy but he reached down and slipped Lio's pants off for him, letting his hands appreciate Lio's smooth skin as he went along. Lio broke away to help with the process, finally leaving him fully nude as well.

Is it rude to call someone's dick cute? Lio's was definitely cute, flushed red and pointed towards the heavens.

"Cute," Galo said, because he had no tact. Lio wasn't impressed.

"You should see yourself," Lio retorted. "Can you support my weight if I sit on you right now?"

"Hmm?" Galo wasn't sure what Lio was getting at. "Probably?"

Lio grabbed the lube again and scooted up to gently sit himself right above Galo's stomach. Galo got a perfect view of Lio's dick right in front of him, but it was too far away to crane himself up to get his mouth near it, and it was an even more difficult position for a handy. Galo was a bit confused.

It wasn't until Lio poured the lube straight from the bottle onto the center of Galo's chest that things started to click. Jeez, Lio wasn't kidding when he said he liked his chest.

Lio adjusted himself so that his dick was placed right between each of Galo's pecs. One of Lio's hands came to press his dick down, flush against Galo's body, and he gently rocked forward, easily gliding across the slick surface. The sigh that came out of Lio was so erotic that Galo almost wished he could get it up again right now and keep this party going for the both of them. Instead, he opted to bring his hands to gently fondle Lio's thighs on top of him. The places where their bodies were touching were overheating, but the parts of Lio's skin that were out in the open were cool, as per usual with him. Galo rubbed his thighs up and down to help warm him up, as well as taking the time to appreciate their softness.

Lio was just spurred on further by the touching, breath getting more frantic, trying to speed up despite the awkward positioning. Galo's chest was larger than average for a dude of his size, but it really wasn't easy to try to fuck into a part of the body that wasn't really meant to be fucked into? Galo didn't mind, and Lio was the one exerting himself, so Galo didn't have anything to complain about, but…

Watching Lio working himself up over Galo's body filled him with affection. Lio put his work on hold and was willing to throw off their sleep schedule to indulge Galo tonight. Galo had wanted their first time to be special, but he really let himself just go for it, huh… and Lio did a whole bunch of things to make Galo feel good without Galo doing much of anything at all. Galo felt moved, post-sex euphoria and adoration for Lio spilling over. Galo felt compelled to do something for Lio, give him more to show him his appreciation for him.

… Lio's dick was _right there._ It would be so easy to just…

Galo slipped his hands behind Lio's ass and slid the smaller man forward easily. Galo made some split second calculations before adjusting Lio's knees to be on either side of his head, and swallowing his partner's entire cock in one go.

Galo was not great at calculations and it turned out that having the head of a dick hit the back of his throat did in fact make him feel like he was choking. He tried to ignore it, instead making sure his teeth weren't hitting Lio's sensitive skin anywhere before sucking in as best as he could manage.

Galo would describe the sound Lio made as a sob mixed with an orgasm. Lio was doubled over the top of Galo's head, one hand gripping onto the headboard, the other trying to steady himself by Galo's head. The position was rough on Galo's neck, but he felt it was a small sacrifice for Lio's incredible reactions.

"Galo, _Galo-_" Lio called out, his voice being ripped from him. Galo continued sucking, decidedly not thinking about his troubled gag reflex and the disgusting taste of the lube (note, get a flavored version or something next time.) Instead, Galo wanted to etch into his memory the feeling of Lio's body trembling around him, his voice, barely restrained, begging Galo to finish him off.

“I’m gonna-” was the only warning he got that Lio was close, and Galo didn’t let up, wanting Lio to enjoy himself to the very end.

Galo did however, get extremely concerned when he felt the first splash of cum down his throat. Okay, now his gag reflex was _really_ freaking out and Galo was forced to lift Lio's hips off of him to avoid either throwing up or drowning in semen. That would be extremely unsexy.

The rest of Lio's cum hit him in the face, splashing up to his hair. Galo had to close one of his eyes to make sure nothing got in it. Lio’s whole body shook, being held up more by Galo’s grasp than by any will of his own. Galo let him ride out his high, enjoying the view.

The two of them were basically fucking disgusting, covered head to toe in each other’s jizz, lube, and sweat. Galo felt a sense of joy and unity he hadn’t felt since Lio’s fire was inside of him. He smiled up at his partner, both lightheaded and dazed.

“Good?” Galo asked.

“Good,” Lio breathed out, taking his time to let his heart calm down, “but I want to shower again.”

Galo chuckled, moving to wipe Lio’s cum out of his eye. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”

🔥-🔥-🔥-🔥

It was too late for anyone else to be in the bathroom on their floor, leaving the whole space to the two of them.

Galo wished for a second time that he could get it up again and the two of them could just go at it like rabbits all night, but he decided to be a good boy (Lio’s voice echoed in his mind) and show restraint. They were already tired, they had to get up and go do business in the morning, it wouldn’t be fair to anyone if they were exhausted by then.

Instead, when he joined Lio under the shower head (the water way too hot for Galo’s preference and the steam making him more dizzy than he already was) the first thing he did was start cleaning Lio off. He gently rubbed soap down his arms, his back, his neck. Lio quietly complied, adjusting himself when needed to let Galo do his thing.

Lio helped him wash his hair in return, Galo leaning forward with Lio in front of him, shampooing the cum out of his hair and rinsing everything down the drain. When Galo was sure no shampoo would get in his eyes, he lifted his head up to be greeted by Lio trying to hold back a smile.

“What?” Galo asked, already smiling back.

“Your hair looks funny when it’s wet. It’s so long,” Lio said, touching the ends of it for emphasis. The longest part of his hair reached to about his collarbones when it was pushed down like this. No one believed him when he said his hair naturally stuck up and poked every which way without styling, but it was true! It had been like that since he was a kid.

“You like it?” Galo asked.

“Mhmm,” Lio hummed nonchalantly, already moving on, his hand gliding across Galo’s collarbone to his left shoulder, down his arm covered in burn scars. Lio trailed his fingertips across it, gentle and curious.

Galo didn’t usually mind his scars showing, his arm guard was more for protection than coverage, but Lio focusing in on them made him just a bit shy. After his arm had been damaged, Galo had only felt his resentment towards the Burnish grow. He had been so devoted to putting out their flames before, and now look at him, rendezvousing in the shower with their crazy pyromaniac leader that once he hated so much… He felt guilt towards his past feelings. He felt guilt at being so angry in the first place, even though there was no way he could have known better.

Galo hadn’t understood a single thing back then. He had no idea what it all meant. To be Burnish, to be putting out Burnish fire, to be lighting Burnish fire. They were all so much more complicated than he ever imagined, yet at the same time so simple. Seeing Lio in front of him now, the same Lio with a bleeding heart that poured his blood, sweat, and soul into saving his people, the same overwhelmingly powerful Lio that protected him despite Galo being so ignorant, the same Lio that clung onto him for dear life in his sleep. Seeing that Lio in front of him now, it certainly felt simple.

He didn’t have to be angry any more. He didn’t have to fight anyone any more.

“You know,” Lio’s voice broke Galo away from his thoughts, “I’ve never had any scars.”

“What? Never?”

“Maybe. I might have had some when I was small. But the flames regenerated our bodies perfectly. Any wound we got could be restored, like it never happened.” Galo remembered Lio explaining how the Promare worked before, but he didn’t consider it was capable of that. “I can get scars now though.”

Lio’s voice was distant, he wasn’t particularly talking to Galo any more.

“I like them. Your scars,” Lio said.

🔥-🔥-🔥-🔥

Galo was dead fucking tired the next morning. Despite people frequently assuming he was some kind of idiot slacker (he was only one of those things, mind you,) Galo was diligent in keeping up with his sleep schedule. A good night’s rest meant being able to accomplish more throughout the day, and Galo was nothing if not ready to do his job and help as many people as he could. Despite his early morning exhaustion, Galo thanked whatever force of the universe that let him wake up to Lio beside him. He’d just chug some coffee and get over it, not regretting a single thing from last night.

His first stop for the morning was the room with all the mechs. Lucia and Aina were already there, getting ready to start their day too.

"Good morning, team!” Galo greeted, bouncing into the room, heart full of love and energy even though his eyes felt heavy as bricks.

“Morning, Gal- woah, you look like shit,” Aina greeted him.

“Wow, thanks,” Galo shot back, hurt at the sudden attack from his dear friend.

“No really, did you sleep last night? Are you ok?” Aina asked, genuinely concerned that her teammate wasn’t in his usual condition.

“I’m _great,_ you have nothing to worry about!”

Galo made his way down to his wonderful, beautiful, super fucking badass Matoi, ignoring his rudeass friend. He gave Lucia a little salute when he passed by her, but her shit-eating grin was even wider than usual when she caught his eye.

“Galo,” she snickered, “your nipples.”

“Huh?” Galo’s head snapped down to look at his chest. He never wore a shirt in here, hardly anyone except Remi and Lio did, there shouldn’t be a prob- oh.

Sure enough, there were noticeable pink rings around each of his nipples, still swollen from last night.

Lucia’s cackles haunted him all the way down the hall as he huffed away to grab a shirt for once.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lio contemplates what it means to be alone.

Some nights, Lio felt empty.

Lio had never truly felt alone before. From the day he was born, the Promare spoke to him, they fueled him, they filled him. He had his Burnish brothers, his found family and his home. He had his passion, his drive, his need to burn. Burn hotter, brighter, _ constantly. _

But the Promare were gone now.

He was no longer Lio Fotia, leader of the Mad Burnish, leader of a just rebellion, terrorist, revolutionist, _ Burnish. _

He was just Lio.

Lio's heart felt frayed. He still had his passion, his brothers, his fire in his chest that he always knew would be his and his alone, but the raw edges of his heart were still there from where the Promare were cut away.

The other Burnish understood too. Lio still came to them every day and they mended each other slowly but surely. Promepolis was changing bit by bit. Discrimination still existed, the anti-Burnish ideologies still driven deep into the public conscious, but things looked brighter every day. They _worked_ to make it better every day. Lio poured his very soul into protecting the Burnish and would keep doing it for as long as he needed to. They could truly try to live in peace, build themselves and each other even higher than before.

He knew that one day he'd probably feel ok again, whole again.

But tonight, the hole was still there.

On a night like this, anxiously wandering the halls of the Rescue Building in his pajamas, he found himself in front of Galo's bedroom door.

It was as if he were on autopilot. Lio had to get up early tomorrow, and Galo had more work to do tonight. Lio planned on sleeping in his own quarters, but ice gnawed at his chest for too long and he somehow managed to stay awake past the time when even Galo should have been in bed.

The parts of his heart that were still in tact reminded himself that Galo was there through everything too. The last moments he spent with the Promare were his first moments spent with Galo, and maybe being near him would rekindle some of that fire. Maybe the memory of the time their souls burned as one and the stars aligned with their hearts would be enough to pretend the hole wasn't there. Maybe if they hugged and kissed and fucked enough Lio would feel like he wasn’t completely alone.

The rational part of his brain tried to tell him it was stupid to try and fix this problem through... whatever going to Galo's room at odd hours of the night would achieve, but the shreds of his heart screamed over them that he needed _ something _ from him right now. _ Anything. _

He knew without a doubt that Galo would welcome him into his room at any hour of the day or night, hell, Galo had _told_ him as much. But Lio still hesitated to knock on the door. He felt small, lost in a way that he had never been before, and it still felt scary to admit it. He was the Boss, he was a leader of a revolution, he was Lio Fotia and he was _not_ small or weak, god dammit.

But he sure felt like it, half empty and running on pure vulnerability, intimidated by a tall door and the idiot probably sleeping like a log behind it. Lio spent more nights in this room than in his own now, but it was still Galo’s room, not his.

Of course, in the way the universe always loved to play with the two of them, Galo opened the door before Lio could even lift his hand.

They both blinked at each other in surprise before Galo let out a sheepish smile. Lio's heart felt strangled in his chest, still surprised that Galo opened the door for him before he even had the chance to open it himself.

"Lio, hey! What, umm... did you need something? Wanna come in?" Galo seemed unusually nervous. Lio pretended not to notice in hopes that Galo wouldn’t say anything about Lio’s own questionable state.

"Yeah," Lio steadied his voice and his legs and tried to walk into Galo's room with confidence, like normal. It came across slightly wrong, just a little too wobbly, a bit too vulnerable. Both of them pretended not to notice that too, and Lio was grateful.

Lio made himself comfortable sitting on Galo's bed. He'd been here many nights before and would be here many nights again no doubt, but his mouth felt dry, his body and mind felt weak. It took restraint to not break down and ask Galo to just _ hold him. _

Yet again, the stupid laws of this universe working their magic, Galo found himself meeting Lio exactly where he needed to without either saying a word. Galo shut his door and quickly made his way to Lio and hugged him tighter, more desperate than normal. Lio almost laughed. How was it that this idiot knew exactly what he wanted?

"Is something wrong?" It sounded ironic coming from Lio, knowing exactly how pathetic he must look right now.

"Hey, that's my line," Galo said, muffled against his neck. Galo's arms were a hot vice around Lio's body, easily engulfing him, helping him pretend the gash in his soul wasn't cold and lonely. Slowly warming him up from the outside-in. Lio returned the embrace, his arms were partially trapped under the larger man's, but he managed to wrap the parts that were free around his middle. He shut his eyes tightly and squeezed.

When Galo started to pull away the slightest bit, Lio felt like his heart was being pulled away with him. He felt too desperate. It took restraint again to not pull him back down further into the embrace.

"I thought you weren’t coming over tonight. Seriously, what's wrong?" Galo may be an idiot, but he was surprisingly good with people. He had that way of connecting hearts that Lio always admired, even though he would never say it out loud. Galo never consciously read what people were feeling, he just _felt_ it with them. The fires of human hearts found Galo's easily. As Galo's face was far enough to look at Lio in the eyes now, Lio felt maybe it was ok to be vulnerable here.

No, he knew it would be alright if it were Galo.

"I'm lonely," came out of Lio's mouth, feeling foreign on his tongue and in his chest. Perhaps this was the first time he had even said that out loud. He didn't know what he wanted to accomplish by saying it, but he felt like he needed to.

Galo gave a wry smile and a puff of a laugh out of his nose that tickled Lio's face. It was a sympathetic laugh, a moment of thankfulness towards Lio for being so direct. Galo kissed Lio's forehead. "And you came to me?"

Lio quietly wished that he had kissed somewhere else instead. "Yeah," Lio then made his own wish come true instantly by leaning up and pressing his lips to Galo's. It was a small kiss, barely a fraction of what Lio was hoping Galo would be able to share with him tonight. "Yeah."

Galo smiled, genuinely this time. Dazzling and dopey, as always. Lio was grateful that at least one of them was able to smile like that. Galo leaned down and kissed him again, on the mouth, on the cheek, once on the eyelid as well. It was sweet and quieted the desperate hunger inside of Lio just a little. Lio loved when Galo kissed him, gentle and full of mutual affection.

Galo started to lean away again, but this time Lio followed him. Galo smiled and settled his hand on the smaller man to push him back a little bit. Lio's heart ached, if Galo didn't come back and hold him _ right now _\- oh he was just taking his shirt off.

Galo almost never wore a shirt, let alone in his room for pajamas. "Were you planning on going out tonight?" Lio asked, connecting the dots of his unusual behavior. He hoped that Galo wasn't planning on anything important, because Lio certainly wasn't going to let him go anywhere now.

Surprisingly, Galo smiled that same sheepish smile he had when he opened the door. Lio had never seen him look like that before, and here he was, making the same face twice on the same night. Lio considered it a rare treat and filed away that expression in 'Interesting Galo Thymos Moments' in his memory.

"I wanted to go see you," Galo said in a low voice, at the same time urging Lio's arms above his head so he could take his shirt off for him. "I was feelin' a little lonely myself."

Lio quivered. He hoped Galo didn't notice (even though he certainly did, their bodies barely centimeters apart.) "I see," Lio murmured back, masking how fucking badly he wanted them to fill each other right now, to melt together so neither of them had to feel lonely again. Lio felt a little pathetic that they apparently couldn't even spend one night apart any more, but Galo's heat was irresistible right now. Lio let his hands wander up Galo's now bare sides, slipping up and around his back, urging him to come closer yet again.

Galo indulged him this time, pressing Lio down into his bed, chest resting on top of his but being mindful of their size differences. Lio was tougher than nails and no one knew that better than Galo, but Galo still had like, twice the height and muscle of the little guy and wasn't keen on crushing him just yet.

"Y'know," Galo started, "I never thought I could be lonely."

Lio wondered if he himself were speaking instead of Galo just then. Galo continued and Lio held his breath.

"Even after I lost my family and everything, I still had a lot of things I felt... connected to. My heart was still burning, all the time!” He smiled his classic Galo smile at that, but it gently withered down into something more serious as he continued. “But after being in the Galo de Lion with you, after your flames protected me, I... I guess I didn't realize I could feel so full, y'know?" Galo laughed again, a quiet laugh for himself, like he was laughing at an inside joke only he knew.

But Lio knew too. Lio was the only other person in the world who could know.

Hearing Galo say that made Lio almost foolishly wonder if their hearts were still connected for Galo to be able to echo Lio's own thoughts so easily.

"I felt it too," Lio emphasized by bringing his arm up behind Galo's head and bringing their foreheads together. "You, me, and the Promare were one. Our hearts were one."

_'They still are,'_ he didn't say. Galo probably already knew that anyway.

Maybe he should be embarrassed by saying that, by being connected to perhaps the dumbest man he'd ever met, but he wasn't. Lio felt... happy. He felt the memory of what it was like to be whole, and he wrote over it with memories of this moment, and every other moment with Galo since then. He didn't have the Promare any more, he wasn't Burnish any more, but he can still be with Galo. He can still connect with Galo.

"I think I need you, Galo Thymos."

With their vulnerabilities out in the open, it was like a dam had overflowed. Tired of putting it off, he pushed himself up into Galo's body and locked their lips together, mouths open and needy. Galo matched his fervor, his tongue slick and warm in Lio's mouth. It sent shivers down his spine, the burn of adrenaline flowing through them both like rivers of lava.

It took a hot second for Lio to break away long enough to remove his pants, as annoying as they were, it was hard to deny Galo's heat once they got started. When he managed to, Galo also took the time to scurry off the bed and pull out the lube and condoms he had squirreled away under there.

"No condoms," Lio quipped out, breathlessly, tossing his pajama pants and underwear off the side of the bed.

"I want you to fill me."

Galo's flushed face broke into a huge smile. He certainly wasn't going to deny Lio that. He tossed the condoms back under and practically tackled Lio into another kiss, greedy and excited. Lio grinded up into him, his cock now rubbing directly against the fabric of Galo's own pajama pants. It wasn't unpleasant, but Lio was eager for Galo to take his off too, especially after getting a good view of his tent when he had gotten up. Lio let his hands snake around and grab Galo's firm ass.

Galo jumped and made a strangled noise, "Hey! I thought you just said _you_ wanted to be filled!"

Lio smirked. "What, I can't appreciate your ass anyway?" He gave another little squeeze to emphasize. "Take off your pants."

Galo looked a bit embarrassed at being caught off guard but was quick to heed the other's advice and shuffled his pants down as far as he could. Quickly popping open the lube, he poured a bunch into his right hand and hurriedly pressed their dicks together so he could wrap his hand around them both.

Lio closed his eyes, _ god _ the relief. Galo was hot and solid and here with him and he couldn't get enough. Galo jacked the both of them off, rough and eager to please. His hand, still slick, slipped down between Lio's legs, which he was more than happy to spread. Neither of them seemed to have the patience for foreplay right now. Galo paused and looked up at Lio's face for affirmation, and when Lio opened his eyes to look at him like this was the only thing he'd ever needed in his life, it was plenty.

Galo had big hands. Lio was, compared to most people, small, so it was easy for him to call most people big. But Galo's hands were definitely big. Lio was sure of that fact when he felt his fingers inside of him. Even just one finger felt much thicker than Lio's own, and two was enough to make Lio's legs feel weak.

Lio didn't realize how tense with desperation his whole body had been. He sighed heavily, slipping into a whine at the end of it, willing his body to relax so it could welcome more of Galo, more, _ more _ . It was hurried and a bit rough, but Lio wouldn't, couldn't have it any other way right now. He craved the burn. Galo pushed in and out, rushed but still being as mindful as he could. At some point he curled his fingers up and- _ there, oh my God there. _ Lio felt heat spreading like magma throughout his body, flushed and euphoric.

"Galo, _ please, _" Lio called out for him, hands reaching up to Galo's chest, his shoulders, his neck. His lungs were already burning and heaving, and he could feel Galo's lungs working the same. They were both excited. Lio felt comforted, he felt ready knowing that Galo wanted this just as badly.

Galo slipped in another finger and _ spread _them, prompting a noise from Lio that he would deny ever making. Galo looked a little too pleased with himself for that one. Galo pressed up against Lio's prostate again and held it long and hard this time. He learned that from Lio, didn't he? Lio melted.

Feeling confident at Lio's reactions, Galo pulled his fingers all the way out and used the rest of the slick lube on his hand to pump his own cock again. He took that moment to appreciate how Lio looked now, legs spread, flushed and eager beneath him. Lio's eyes met Galo's and he smiled. It was all too easy for Galo to lean down and kiss him before adjusting his lower half and pushing himself inside Lio.

The sound that left Lio's throat was high pitched and foreign, happening despite Lio's attempts to hold it back. Galo swallowed every noise into his own mouth. Lio's hands scraped up Galo's thick arms for leverage as his body arched up, pressing them completely flush together, their sweat making their skin stick together. Galo pushed himself as far as he could, balls deep, trying his best to fulfill Lio's request to be filled.

And _god, did Lio feel full._

Galo shuddered before pulling out and pushing back in, and Lio's mind went fuzzy. It practically went completely blank when Galo reached down and started jerking Lio's dick too. He felt boneless and vulnerable beneath Galo, leaving himself open for the other to pleasure him, give him life and fire and love.

He needed Galo. He _needed_ Galo. He wanted Galo, bright, bold, fiery Galo to show him how much he needed him too, _ please need me too. _

"More," Lio choked out, throat raw, "more."

Galo groaned out, "God, I love you," and happily obliged Lio's request, leaving the other little time to think about the weight that came with what he just said. Galo gave Lio another heavy kiss before leaning back and using his strong hands to grip Lio's hips securely. Lio hoped it would leave bruises. Galo lifted Lio's hips up and pounded his cock into him.

At first Lio didn't recognize the cries of pleasure were coming from his own throat, filling the room along with the sounds of their bodies slapping together and Galo's bed knocking against the wall. He hoped that the walls in this place were thick, because they sure weren't being quiet. Galo treated Lio to a lot of his own moans, and _ oh fucks _ and the occasional, _ fuck yes _. Lio treasured every one of them in the moments he had between his own cries and gasps, pleased to know that he could pull those reactions out of him.

"Galo, please... inside me," was all that managed to come out, but Galo understood. His pace was already frantic, desperate for Lio since the moment he walked in, but there was nothing holding him back now.

For how weak Lio's body felt, his hands and legs sure were gripping onto Galo like a vice. He wanted Galo to be inseparable from him, he wanted their hearts to burn as one again, he wanted that burn more than anything in that moment. It almost made him feel whole again, complete again.

Galo shuddered harder this time, and his voice was mangled and strained as he came, and Lio couldn't tell if it was in his head or if it was his actual voice pleading god _ yes yes yes, please fill me, fill me- _

Either way, Lio felt Galo's heat inside of him, thick and sloppy, poured into him faster and hotter than he could even process. Heat streamed down his face as well, tears overflowing from the emotion and stimulation. Everything felt so hot and good and _right,_ the way it should be. Lio wished he could feel like this all the time again.

"Hey," Galo whispered, his voice was still coarse sounding as he came down from his high, but he attempted to comfort Lio after the tears started, "you ok?" His chest still heaving from exertion, he brought a sweaty hand to Lio's cheek and wiped at his tears. Lio's heart trembled again.

"I'm perfect," Lio breathed out. "But I'm not done yet. Make me cum."

Galo looked down at where they were still connected, realizing that Lio really hadn't cum yet. Breath still uneven, he carefully pulled himself out, and Lio's frazzled heart instantly started to miss him before- oh, Galo was throwing Lio's legs over his shoulders, Lio's back being hoisted up off the bed and blood rushing to his head-

Galo swallowed as much of Lio's cock as he could in one go.

Lio was _ overwhelmed _ , the change in position and Galo's mouth _ around him, swallowing him, fuck- _ it left him dizzy. He loved when Galo used his mouth, hot and wet and so, so eager to please. Galo's hands still gripped him firmly, holding him in their unnatural position as he sucked Lio as hard as their position would let him.

Lio wouldn't be able to recall if he gave any warning as he came down Galo's throat. It happened like a wave, his whole body flooded with feeling, with _ desperation _ and _ lust _ and _ love _-

And it was over. The heat subsided and Galo lowered the two of them to the bed, both still panting and sticky and a little bit bashful after thinking about what just happened.

Lio felt... a little foolish for thinking of sex with Galo as the same as the Promare, but at some point before he even ended up in Galo's room tonight his rationality was far out the window. It was scary, what loneliness did to a person.

But when it came to Galo, most things weren't rational anyway.

Lio sighed, steadying his body, aligning his heart and head again. Feeling somewhat back to normal, more himself, Lio couldn't help but want to tease Galo just a bit. Lio turned to look at Galo beside him and smirked. "You said you love me."

Galo had a split second of looking like a deer in headlights before setting into conviction. "Yeah, so what? Got a problem with it? I do love you." He said it like he was challenging Lio.

It was... kind of funny. Lio wondered if Galo had ever been in love before. For him to confess like that and then try to... fight the person he confessed to about it? Lio couldn't help but laugh. It was just so _ Galo. _

"Don't laugh, asshole! I mean it!" Galo playfully grabbed Lio and noogie'd his head, which just made Lio laugh more. He’d blame it on the afterglow later.

Who knew laughing felt so good? Lio thought maybe Galo was onto something for laughing so much all the time.

"I love you too, Galo Thymos." Lio made sure he stopped laughing before he said it, but the smile remained etched into his face as he looked Galo in the eyes.

Galo's face went through a myriad of different emotions, before mirroring Lio's smile. Before they knew it, their mouths were locked together again, as if they were trying to seal the words on each other's tongues.

Lio knew that nothing could replace the flames. They were his life, his whole life, his definition of himself up until a few months ago. It wasn't that easy to replace, and it was scary to think of all the nights to come where the loneliness would return, trying to eat away at the scraps of him that were left behind.

But he knew that he had somewhere to go in the meantime. He had another heart lit on fire to keep him warm. He had someone that he needed and who needed him in return.

He knew that one day he'd probably feel ok again, whole again, and that day was not today.

But as long as Galo was there, Lio thought that nights like this weren't so bad.

🔥-🔥-🔥-🔥

"Just so you know," Galo said to him the next morning, sleep still heavy in his voice and eyes, but doing his best to sound serious, "I don't just love you because you have sex with me or anything. I loved you way before that, probably. I meant to tell you before-"

"It's fine, I know," Lio said. Lio started accepting that their hearts were in fact, conspiring against their brains and talking behind their backs. How else could they feel everything the other felt all the time? It was the only explanation.

Lio kissed Galo's cheek once before climbing out of bed. Galo was considerate enough to set his alarm to fit Lio's schedule, even though Galo himself didn't have to get up yet. Galo smiled at him sleepily before flopping face first into his pillow. What a keeper. Unfortunately, neither of them cleaned up before bed last night, both of their bodies and Galo's sheets were filthy. Lio sadly acknowledged that he wouldn't be able to take his time in the shower too, thanks to the time. He'd have to hurry today.

Lio took one step out of bed before he realized something felt off.

Something wet and slippery ran down his leg.

Oh my god. Oh my god, that was Galo's cum. He never cleaned it out last night.

Lio sighed. His shower today _really_ wasn't going to be fun. He made a mental note to return the favor next time.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lio contemplates what his life has become.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all sooooo so so much for the support on this story I love you ALL!!!!! 
> 
> This chapter was not planned at all when I started this fic yet it somehow became one of the most important ones. I dedicate this chapter to everyone out there that said Bottom Galo Rights. It's kind of all over the place emotionally but uhhhh blame it on the alcohol??? also for fun, you can imagine that Lio drinks fireball
> 
> Also credit to my dear friend Sabrina for the Big Tex joke. You are so fucking Woke. https://twitter.com/wickedlupin/status/1180632282631155714?s=20  
For those of you that don't live in Texas, watch this before reading and remember that Meis awoke his Burnish abilities while in Dallas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzHhUF6YTIk
> 
> And finally, please heed the 'codependency' tag as we get further into this fic. Thank you <3

Lio tried not to make a habit of drinking. He knew that many ex-Burnish did. The singe of it in a person’s throat and chest made it easier to pretend that the fire was still inside them. The heat and intoxication was enough for some people to feel invincible again.

But Lio knew better. The abyss hidden in his chest was too big, far too empty to be filled by the lackluster promise of a temporary burn. He wasn’t opposed to drinking, however, because while it wasn’t that familiar heat, it was a good excuse to spend time with friends and maybe feel a little warm.

Gueira and Meis had promised Lio drinks on them tonight. Lio had invited Galo along too, but Galo reminded him that he still wasn’t of legal drinking age. (Lio was still shocked every time, but with a brain like that, it wasn’t too hard to believe.) Galo opted instead to work out for the rest of the night and asked Lio to tell him all about it when he got back. Lio couldn’t force him to come so he pretended that he wouldn’t miss him in the mere hours they were apart. Lio tried to remind himself that it was good, healthy for him to be away from Galo sometimes.

So Lio settled in with Gueira and Meis for the night at an ex-Burnish run bar. He let his drink pretend to burn him and his heart pretend that it wasn’t running on fumes without Galo around.

The bar was small, the bartender for the night was the owner herself. Lio recognized her. Lio recognized every Burnish he had ever met, the memory of their fire branded into his mind as if it were his own.

She made some small talk, and thanked the team for their work. She told them that she used to run this place before she awoke her Burnish abilities and had tried to live under the radar, like many did. She told them how she was taken in by Mad Burnish supporters that had to escape through the shadows. She told them how she was glad she made it out alive, able to get back to what she loved because of what Lio had done. She told them that if it weren’t for the Burnish advocacy and solidarity in this city then she didn’t know if she could still have this place, let alone any job at all. She told them that her brother who lives across the country wasn’t so lucky.

Those without records were easier for people to pretend that they were never different. Those that kept their heads down and mouths shut were the first to start being treated like “normal people” again. Even though everyone was the same now, some people were only accepted if they were more “the same” than the others.

Lio downed more than he realized as the conversation passed. As she left them to check on other patrons, he was already shaken, dizzy with liquor and emotion.

The only reason he and the other Mad Burnish weren’t criminalized and prosecuted for their actions in the past was because of the way the Burning Rescue had testified for them. The local government was in so much disarray that they managed to slip by, Ignis covering their backs while the bigger fish fried. But they were still on thin ice - it’s hard to let decades of discrimination be forgotten, even though what they were discriminating against no longer even existed in this dimension.

Lio was as grateful as he was still fucking pissed.

Gueira and Meis clearly felt the same. Lio could see it in the way they sat now, the way their brows lowered, the way their eyes narrowed even as they stared at nothing.

The three of them knew that they had gotten off lucky, they knew that they needed to make the best of their opportunities and help as many more Burnish as they could. They knew that they could never live with themselves if they abandoned what they began back when they were Mad Burnish - the real Mad Burnish - filled to the brim with spark and flame. They had to keep going day by day, brick by brick. It was a slow process. For every one that got a home and a job, there were another five waiting their turn. For every person waiting, there were that many more buildings that needed to be restructured for use. For every building that needed to be restructured there was some fool that owned it who barely even glanced outside of themselves long enough to realize the world had done a complete 180 since the last time they even looked up.

So they drank. They drank to themselves, to the bartender, to every person they helped, and to every person they hadn’t.

🔥-🔥-🔥-🔥

"-so I said _ listen buddy, _ do I _ look _ like someone that would do that to Big Tex? I loved him, we all loved him, but the-"

"Meis, you tell this story every time. We know you set Big Tex on fire." Gueira grabbed his friend's shoulder and looked him in his (unfocused) eyes. "It's _ ok _. He forgives you."

Meis turned away to hide his tears.

Lio zoned in and out of the conversation. He had heard the Big Tex story enough times anyway, rest his soul. Lio's mind had become a slurry of fiery memories, work, and Galo.

_ Galo, Galo, Galo, Galo… _ why wasn't he here again? He had half a mind to ask the other two why, but quickly realized they probably wouldn't be able to tell him either. He kept sipping at his drink. The heat of the liquor was already starting to slip away, disappearing down through the cracks of the plaster over his heart that Galo had set, warmth easily swallowed up by the void hiding inside of him. He felt on edge, the endless chasm of his existence threatening his senses. He shivered.

How many glasses had he had by now? Eh. Whatever.

“How’s the idiot doing?” Gueira asked, either reading Lio's mind or just trying to get Meis to quit going off about the Big Tex story. The question startled Lio into being present again.

Gueira and Meis weren’t exactly the biggest fans of Galo at first, but Galo’s infectious positivity wore them down eventually (or maybe it was the way that Lio looked when he talked about him.) It was hard to get over the distrust of the guy who fucking arrested them, but if they trusted anyone, it was Lio. And Lio trusted Galo. Lio appreciated his friend's thoughtfulness. He kept them up to date with what he and Galo were up to at their request.

There were no secrets between the three of them, and maybe on some particularly unguarded nights after a few drinks, Lio may have told them a few details that perhaps shouldn’t be discussed in public bars.

"HE DID _ WHAT!?_" Gueira howled, toppling his bar stool to the ground.

The owner of the bar shot them a very strained smile. A warning.

"B-Boss…" Lio turned to Meis to catch his tears returning.

Well, this was not the reaction he was expecting. Lio didn’t see how the developments of his sex life were something so dramatic. They’d always taken locker room talk in stride before. Apparently, taking your partner’s dick up the ass was ‘a big deal’ or whatever? Lio didn't understand.

"Who the hell does he think he is-"

"Gueira, Meis, calm down. I don't know what prompted this reaction." Lio took another sip of his drink.

"_Boss _ , but you’re like… _ you know_," Meis tried to explain without explaining anything at all.

"No, I don't actually," Lio said. “Anal stimulation can be pleasurable for anyone if done correctly. It’s been an enjoyable part of our sex life for the both of us."

"Excuse me, sirs, could you keep the volume down a bit…"

The three of them nodded apologetically. Lio cleared his throat. Gueira adjusted his chair and sat back down in a huff. "Boss, I don't know if you realize this, but you're _ you. _"

"Gueira, I'm well aware of who I am."

"No, like-" he leaned in, stage whispering uselessly, "you're _ you_."

"What are y-"

"Boss," his hissed out, "_ you _ are a _ top. _"

… What?

“That’s a rather archaic view of sexual relationships,” Lio said. He hoped his voice was quiet enough, but he was having trouble telling. “There’s more nuance to it than that.”

"But _ Boss_," Meis began again, having wiped his tears away, "didn't you tell us last time about how you've only used your fingers on him so far?" Wow, maybe Lio really was oversharing. "Isn't it only fair that you get to put it in him too?" Gueira nodded along rapidly.

Lio pondered this. Honestly, Galo seemed perfectly happy without resorting to anal play whenever they touched each other. Galo was… surprisingly restrained. Galo's idea of a great night in bed could end with making out and sloppy handjobs. Galo had even gotten them condoms, yet the one time he tried to use them, Lio told him not to. They sat completely unused under the bed now. Lio was usually the one to take things further, and so far he had yet to fully penetrate Galo.

Galo… wasn’t opposed to it, was he? He came from prostate stimulation before, right?

It was getting hard for Lio to focus, drinks making his system feel slow.

The more Lio thought about it, the more Gueira and Meis sounded right. Why _ hadn't _ he fucked Galo's ass yet?

"_Boss,_" Gueira growled out after slamming whatever was left of his last drink. "You are Lio _ fucking _ Fotia. You should be bending him over every night." Meis nodded solemnly in agreement like a wise old mage.

It... made sense. So their problem wasn't that Lio had done it, but that he wasn’t doing it to Galo too? Lio nodded along, each bounce of his head filling him with determination. Gueira and Meis were so smart and considerate.

"You two…" Lio smiled, his chest swelled with pride.

Meis gave him a rough pat on the back. "You go show him your Burnish pride!"

"That's right! No one fucks Lio and just gets away with it!"

Lio foolishly agreed, trying to sit in his favorite position to emphasize his confidence but finding it difficult to spread his legs on the bar stool while still keeping his balance. Gueira and Meis had to steady him to make sure he didn't fall.

"Sirs, I'm going to have to cut you off for the night…"

🔥-🔥-🔥-🔥

Gueira and Meis offered to take him back to the Rescue Building, but Lio insisted on walking himself. They weren't that far, right? Lio could find his way. Gueira and Meis had been placed in their own lodging set up under the jurisdiction of the Rescue division, but it was in a different direction.

Lio said goodbye to his beloved friends outside the bar with some emotional hugs, like they were his proud parents sending him off to college. Lio tried to stand tall and walk straight on his way home, but there was nothing wrong with a little zig zagging, right? Right.

The weather had cooled down over the past few months, leaving nights more brisk than Lio was comfortable with. A gust of wind blew down the streets and Lio was suddenly hit with how cold he was now that he was alone.

…

Why wasn’t Galo here again? He missed him. He wanted to see him. Stupid, sexy Galo.

Lio really didn't like having to use a phone. Years of being on the run gave him a general aversion to using them. But he had one now for a reason, and being horny, lonely, and cold on the street seemed reason enough to pull it out now. He fidgeted around with it until he managed to pull up the call app. He squinted his eyes at the brightness of the screen in contrast with the soft glow of the street lamps around him. He quickly found Galo's name in his contacts followed by a string of hearts and… what was that, some water droplet emojis? An eggplant? Galo had set his own name on Lio's phone. Lio stared at the nonsense name for a good while before finally pressing call. It took seconds for Galo to pick up.

_ “Lio? What’s up? You still with the guys?” _ Galo’s voice was so distant and crackled coming through the little speaker on Lio’s phone. Despite it, the warmth Lio felt from drinking had never felt cheaper than it did in comparison to Galo’s voice. The loneliness he’d been trying to keep at bay all night hit him like a wave.

“I’m coming home,” Lio said, and after a heavy breath he added, “I want to fuck you.”

_ “Guh- Jesus, hold on-” _ Lio heard some more crackling and movement on the other side of the phone. When Galo spoke again he sounded hushed but his voice came through more clearly. Lio pressed the phone hard against his ear.. _ “Liiiooo, I was on speaker phone!” _

Lio remembered that Galo said he was working out tonight, most likely in their building’s little gym area (which was really just a section of a common room that had a mat, a treadmill, and some weights.) Now that he realized it, Galo had sounded out of breath when he picked up the phone. How long had he been going at it? He was probably half dressed and covered in sweat right now… “Good.” Lio said.

_ “Lio, how much did you drink? Where are you? I’ll come get you.” _

“Uh…” Lio pulled the phone away, looking around for a street sign. How did he get here again? Moving his head too fast made his vision swim, so he tried pulling up GPS on his phone. His fingers too numb to move properly, he accidentally ended the call with Galo. Oops.

He continued trying to figure out how to open his location, only to be interrupted by Galo calling him back. He answered and put the phone to his ear again.

_ "You alright?" _

"Yeah."

_ "Still by the bar?" _

"Mhmm."

_ "Just stay there, I'll come get you." _

"You don't need to get me. It’s not far. I can walk." To prove it, Lio took another step. He closed one eye to stop the world from spinning so hard. He was doing great. If he could just find out where he was then he’d be perfect.

_ "For real, I'll be there in a sec, stay on the line." _

"I can handle myself. I can beat you in a fight, Galo Thymos."

_ "Hahaha, what? Babe, that's not the point. And fuck you, I can beat you any day." _

Lio scoffed and shivered. Sounded like bullshit but whatever. He was too cold and numb to argue. The side of the building beside him was starting to look kind of cozy, so he sat. Unfortunately, the warm lights from inside did nothing to help the freezing concrete from biting into him.

_ “You still there? What buildings are you by?” _

Lio turned around to see what building he was leaning against. He couldn’t see much from where he was sitting.

“A... shop.”

_ “Dude…” _

Lio closed his eyes and scrunched into himself, trying to retain heat. He heard Galo saying more words but Lio couldn’t bring himself to make them out any more. The novelty of hearing Galo on the phone wore off already. He wanted to see him.

“Just hurry up already,” Lio said and hung up.

Lio zoned in and out of awareness, the cold night mixing unpleasantly with all the other sensations that had stirred around in his body. He felt weightless and empty.

He already regretted hanging up on Galo. Why did he do that again? The whole night he had wanted to talk to him again and he just fucking hung up? Lio almost called him back but the urge to hug his hands to his body to keep warm won out.

Lio wasn’t sure how long he sat there by himself. A few people walked by but they just spared him some awkward glances before continuing onward. He was used to spending nights outdoors, sleeping anywhere he could, taking whatever he could take. But he was never _ cold _ before. He was never a stupid mess waiting to be picked up off the street before. Was this just his life now? Shivering, waiting around for Galo to fix it? He felt off. Was it really ok to be like this? What happened to the bold, fiery Lio Fotia that Gueira and Meis insisted he was?

Icy thoughts stabbed at him. Had he lost his own flame? Had the fire in his soul really been just the Promare's all along? Did he have anything left without the Promare?

Lio shook his head. No… no, he was still the same. He was alright. He was just having an off night. Lio tried to think about all the things he'd accomplished since he and Galo took down the Parnassus project. He was helping people, right? He was doing what he always wanted to, right?

Lio's mind drifted back to the ex-Burnish who ran the bar he was just at. Had he helped her? What about all the other Burnish, still in waiting to get their "misdemeanors" repealed? What of her brother, across the country? Would he and all the others be able to live the lives they wanted to live?

… Was Lio living the life he wanted to live?

Lio’s head throbbed with questions he couldn’t answer. These thoughts were becoming dangerous. He never moped like this before. He never had to. He hated it. He was trying so hard to fill and cover everything that haunted him but the black hole inside of him kept expanding endlessly under each little stitch and band-aid he laid upon it.

He didn't want to look at it. He didn't want it to be there any more.

_ Galo, _ his heart reminded him, as it always did when it came time to face his own excessive emptiness. His chest ached. He knew that Galo could give, and give, and give, but for how long? How long would Lio need to take from him to feel whole again? Could he even feel whole without Galo any more? _ Would he have anything left without Galo? _

Lio shook his head, making himself dizzy, jumbling around every sick thought in his head. He drank too much, didn’t he. He wanted to shut his brain off. He wanted to go home and shower and absorb Galo’s heat and love until his brain melted.

Lio hugged into himself tighter and thought of all the times Galo was the one hugging him. Galo’s body was large and full of warmth. He could wrap Lio up so easily. For someone who found his passion in extinguishing, Lio had never felt hotter than when he held Galo close.

Oh, speaking of Galo, here he came, jogging down the street. He hadn’t spotted Lio yet, his eyes looking up, presumably looking for the right bar. Lio’s heart felt instant relief at seeing him, but he sat and watched, waiting to see if Galo would notice him too. Lio felt validated in seeing that even Galo wore a large jacket tonight. Galo wore as little clothes as he could in most situations, it was different to see Galo actually putting multiple layers on now that the seasons were changing. Oh how Lio wanted to be pressed up inside of his jacket…

Ah, Galo finally noticed him. Galo broke into a huge smile, waving as he started running toward Lio. Lio felt dizzy again.

“Galo,” Lio said eloquently.

“Hey,” Galo said as he jogged up, out of breath and still smiling.

“How’d you find me?”

Galo shrugged, still breathing hard. “Just ran around to all the local bars. Glad you were close by.”

Lio scrunched his eyebrows. “You ran? Why didn’t you just take your motorbike?” Galo’s face fell, his mouth slipping into a giant ‘O’ shape.

Lio snorted. “Of course.”

Galo brought his smile back, gentle this time. “Well at least I found you! I’m your hero for the night, be grateful!” He turned his back to Lio and got on his knees. He looked behind him and made some kind of motion with his arms that Lio guessed was supposed to be inviting. “Hop on.”

“No way.”

“C’mooon, at least let me do this. I didn’t bring my bike, but I can be yours!”

… Was he doing this on purpose?

“Oh, I’ll let you be my bike tonight,” Lio muttered out.

“Huh?” Galo looked lost.

“... Nothing.” Lio stood up, the wind threatening to freeze him again, the alcohol making him wobble. He tried to dust himself off while ignoring how weightless and icy he felt. Damn, maybe he should take Galo up on his offer. But he knew that if Galo gave him a piggyback ride he’d never hear the end of him bragging about it. Instead Lio opted for coming around to Galo’s side, urging him up, and slipping an arm around his waist underneath the jacket.

“You’re so cold!” Galo commented, slipping his own arm behind Lio reflexively.

“Then warm me up,” Lio told him. Galo leaned over to kiss his head and rubbed at Lio’s side.

Galo’s body was a fucking furnace compared to the air around them. He felt _ sooo good. _ Lio didn’t even care that Galo's shirt was still sticky with sweat, unsure if it was from when he was working out or from running around the streets like a dumbass. He felt solid and strong in Lio’s grip. They stumbled a bit when they started walking thanks to the unnatural proximity and Lio’s lack of bodily control, but they found their rhythm soon enough.

First it had been not being able to spend a night apart, now it was not being able to spend just a few hours? If Lio were still spiraling he might be thinking of how it was worrisome, just how much his body wanted to rely on Galo’s. But for now, he just let himself sink into Galo’s heat, a wonderful and pleasant haze setting over him as he became further intoxicated by Galo’s warmth and scent beneath his jacket.

“Did you have fun?” Galo asked.

“They said I should fuck your ass," Lio said.

Galo choked and stumbled. “Why the hell were you talking about that? Seriously… but now your call makes a lot of sense.” Galo sighed. “You coulda just, like, asked?”

“Ok. Can I fuck you when we get back?” Lio tried to slip his hand down to Galo’s ass. Galo grabbed it with his free hand and moved it back to its place on his waist.

“For real, how much did you have to drink?”

“Some.”

It was quiet for a moment. Lio was frustrated at Galo ignoring his advances before he considered something.

What if Galo didn’t like it? What if Galo rejecting him meant that he wasn’t interested at all? A sense of anxiety and desperation trickled through him. “Do you not want to?”

“It’s not that!” Galo said quickly. Lio smiled up at him, relieved, catching that Galo’s face was definitely more red than the cold could excuse. “It’s not that, it’s just, uh, I didn’t think you’d be drunk the first time we did... that...”

Lio looked back down. He didn’t consider _ that. _ “Oh. Sorry.”

Galo laughed. “It’s fine! I’m just glad you had a good time. I missed you though. Maybe I really should have come.”

Lio leaned into his side further, as if being physically closer could further stoke the fires of their hearts. Lio believed it did. "I missed you too."

Galo used the arm he had around Lio to squeeze him tighter.

🔥-🔥-🔥-🔥

The bar had been closer to the Rescue Building than Lio remembered, but to be fair, he could barely remember how he got there in the first place.

Being pressed snugly into the side of a man built like a marble statue had the benefit of warming up Lio considerably, in all sorts of ways. However, for all of Galo's brazenness, he wasn't an actual exhibitionist. Any time Lio's hands strayed during their walk Galo was quick to place them somewhere safe. Lio felt impatient.

But they were in the Rescue Building now, and their coworkers were nowhere to be seen. Lio tried to confirm this by craning his head around, but his vision blurred annoyingly. Whatever, if someone was around, Galo would just have to pay attention for the both of them. Tired of forcing his hands to behave, Lio moved one to Galo's ass again and squeezed.

Galo didn't stop him this time. "Still wanna do it?" Galo leaned in to ask, his voice low and private, completely different from how he had acted when they were outside. His own hand started curiously wandering around Lio's side. Lio was _ignited_.

Lio’s eyes locked onto Galo’s mouth. “Yeah,” he breathed out, leaning in to kiss him. He only got a peck in before Galo was pulling away, moving them to go upstairs. 

The walk up the stairs was more agonizing than the walk to the building. Galo let him touch wherever he wanted to now, but Lio had the added difficulty of fucking _ stairs _ . He got in as many gropes as he did close encounters with his face to the ground.

But they eventually made it to their floor. Galo almost took him straight to their room but Lio instinctively lead them to the bathroom. It’d be easier later on if they cleaned up now. Plus Lio couldn’t resist the idea of a shower right now.

So Lio pulled them both into the bathroom. No more need to wait, Lio grabbed the front of Galo’s shirt and pushed him against the door as soon as it was closed. He leaned up and kissed Galo hungrily after what felt like an eternity. He let his tongue meet Galo’s eagerly. Galo’s arms slipped around Lio’s middle as he let Lio do as he pleased. Lio moved his open mouth down to Galo’s neck and licked experimentally. The way Galo shivered and clutched onto his sides urged Lio onward.

Galo's skin was salty from sweat. Lio took a moment to appreciate it, a unique and surprisingly favorable sensation on his tongue. Lio pressed his teeth into Galo’s skin and sucked gently. Was it cruel to leave marks on him knowing that other people would most certainly see it? Perhaps. But Lio wasn’t exactly going for “considerate” in the moment. He was tired of being hungry.

Galo noticed too. “People are gonna- ah- they’re gonna notice if you do that.”

“I know,” Lio said against his skin.

Lio didn’t spend long latched onto him, however. Galo pulled him off so he could start removing their clothes. They helped each other out of everything, leaving a pile on the floor to deal with later. Galo locked the door behind him and Lio lead them to the shower.

Lio turned the hot water on full blast, instantly making his body feel fucking incredible. Whatever traces of numb and cold that had been left were melted away. But Galo hissing as the water hit him and his skin quickly becoming a shocking pink didn’t go unnoticed. Lio tried to spare him a little bit by turning the cool water up a tad before joining their bodies together again as steam filled the room.

For all the times Lio saw Galo's body throughout any given day, he didn't spend nearly as much time touching him. Things were awkward enough between Lio and the rest of Burning Rescue, he couldn't exactly be fondling the local idiot's ridiculous muscles at every hour, let alone when they were actually out doing their jobs in public.

So Lio indulged himself as much as he could here. He ran his hands down Galo's arms, he squeezed his palms around Galo's waist, he dipped his thumbs into the divots of Galo's hip bones. Galo's throat bobbed as he swallowed, and Lio moved back up to caress there too. Lio experimentally pressed his thumb and palm into Galo's throat, just the slightest amount of pressure, barely enough to inconvenience him and not nearly enough to hurt. Galo just smirked down at him, breath hot and heavy.

"What, you wanna shut me up that bad?"

Lio mirrored his expression. "I was just curious. I have other ways to shut you up,” Lio said and proved it by kissing him again, leaving his hand to rest at the base of Galo’s throat, feeling the way his muscles moved beneath his skin.

“You sure you wanna do it tonight?” Galo asked when they parted. His hands had come to rest on Lio’s hips again, gently rubbing circles there with his thumbs. “You’re not gonna forget in the morning or anything, are you?”

“Please, I didn’t drink that much. I’m fine. Do _ you _ still want to do it?” Lio asked.

“Yeah,” Galo breathed out. Lio’s hand moved from Galo’s neck to his chest, squeezing his palm into him before pinching his nipple. “_ Fuck _ yeah.”

“Good,” Lio said. “Clean yourself.”

Galo reached for the shampoo.

“I mean your ass,” Lio said.

“Oh. _ Ohhhhh, _ right,” Galo saved.

🔥-🔥-🔥-🔥

Galo's room had stopped being 'Galo's room' in Lio’s mind. Now it was always 'our room' or 'their room' or 'Lio and Galo's room.' It made Lio feel… something.

The journey back to their room (_ their room _) was kind of a mess. Neither of them saw any point in putting clothes back on, but they still ran the risk of running into someone in the hall. As a precaution, they wrapped towels around themselves and hugged their clothes to the front of their crotches and made a dash for it. Galo dropped all of his clothes, losing his towel in the process when he tried to pick it up. Lio made no attempt to help him, getting an eyeful of his ass.

They eventually shuffled in, leaving all their belongings on the floor again. Lio wasted no time in pushing Galo to the bed. Despite the fierceness of the push, Lio made sure to meet their mouths gently, affectionately. Galo laid back, returning Lio’s kiss sweetly. Lio lapped his tongue slowly through Galo’s mouth, mingling Galo’s natural taste with the remnants of alcohol again. Lio spared him a few more gently pecks on the mouth and cheek before moving on. He wanted to show Galo how much he missed him. He pulled away, separating their bodies as much as he could to make every touch count.

Lio took one finger and dragged it across Galo’s neck where Lio had left his mark, down the center of his large chest and toned stomach. He pulled away before going further down. Galo was already panting like a dog.

It felt good. It felt good to have Galo already coming undone below him from a single touch. It felt good knowing that Galo was ready and waiting for Lio to be the one to pleasure him. It felt good knowing that Galo wanted this, couldn’t feel like this without Lio guiding him.

Galo tried handing him the bottle of lube, its home having upgraded from under the bed to the top of the nightstand.

"I don't need it yet," Lio said. "Hold on, I want to do something." Lio crawled off Galo and flopped onto his back beside him. Lio felt a sadistic high knowing that Galo would be frustrated from Lio not paying attention to his dick, already hard since they were in the shower.

Lio pointed at his own face. “Sit.”

“Huh?”

Lio continued pointing.

Galo’s eyes were owlish as he put together what Lio wanted him to do. His face went from a lovely pink blush to a fully embarrassed red in record time. Lio wanted to see him make that kind of face more often. Galo tried to pull himself together, tried to get himself emotionally ready for what Lio wanted to do. Galo sat up and turned to face the headboard, both hands moving up to grab onto it as he moved to kneel himself over Lio’s head.

“No,” Lio said, “turn around.”

“What?”

“Face the other way,” Lio clarified.

It was cute how Galo was trying to keep his face straight as Lio ordered him around, biting his tongue trying to not talk back. Lio couldn’t wait to break that will until Galo was begging for more. He wouldn’t wait to make Galo need him.

Galo readjusted himself again, glancing over his shoulder nervously to see if he was where Lio wanted him. “Is this good?”

Lio grabbed each side of Galo’s ass with his hands, roughly sinking his fingers into his flesh and spreading. Galo’s asshole hovered right above him. Galo squirmed about, but Lio tried to keep him steady in his grip.

“Perfect. Now sit,” Lio demanded once more.

Galo slowly lowered himself onto Lio’s face, being careful to not crush his partner. Lio leaned up a bit to meet him eagerly. Lio opened his mouth to lap greedily at Galo’s ass. He glided his tongue, slick with saliva, around Galo’s hole. He tried gently pressing in. Galo had an interesting reaction. He tensed and relaxed, rapidly switching between the two as he tried to adjust to the new sensation. Lio could feel his heart beating like crazy through his mouth, interestingly enough.

Lio pushed in further, seeing how deep he could get his tongue. Galo’s ass was tight and foreign, far more foreign than Galo's sweaty neck had been earlier. Oh how quickly things escalated when Lio took the reigns. Lio’s movements still weren’t perfect, still riding out his buzz, but thankfully eating ass wasn’t an exact science. Whenever Galo would sigh or gasp, Lio would just keep doing whatever it took to draw more out of him.

Lio could feel Galo’s thighs shaking, trying to hold himself over Lio without putting pressure on Lio’s face. Lio was as flattered at his thoughtfulness as he was annoyed that Galo wasn’t _ sitting _exactly like he had asked. Lio gripped into the meat of his thighs and tried to pull him down further. He wanted all of Galo, no restraint.

“Ahh-! Lio, that’s, ahhhh…” Galo had been mostly quiet since they started, Lio had felt him trying to swallow his noises down, but it looked like he couldn’t hold it back anymore. Lio felt every twitch and vibration throughout Galo’s body. Galo’s weight on him was wonderfully comforting and intimate despite the pressure. Lio continued, licking into his ass as passionately as he had done to his mouth so many times before.

“Whh… wait, I want to…” Galo started pulling up and away again. Lio almost pushed him back into his face, but he figured he might as well give his mouth a break and see what it was that Galo wanted.

Galo readjusted, moving to lean all the way over Lio’s body, propping himself on all fours. Lio got a clear view of his abused hole and balls between Galo’s legs. Galo bobbed his head down and mouthed at Lio’s cock, a wonderful heated pleasure blooming throughout Lio’s body. He shuddered and sighed. Lio had suggested Galo face that way for a reason, he was glad that Galo picked up on it.

Lio fucking loved when Galo gave him head. It was one of the things Galo was always more than willing to initiate himself. Galo was surprisingly good at it, though maybe it wasn’t that surprising considering how eager Galo was to please. Whatever it was, Galo could suck like a fucking vacuum.

Lio hummed his approval loudly. “Very good.” Galo said nothing in return - couldn’t, really - but Lio didn’t miss the way his breath stuttered.

Lio stretched his arm to finally retrieve the lube, pouring it all over Galo's already slippery ass and onto his hand. Lio praised his lover again by reaching under him and briefly stroking his cock a few times in return, leaking lube and pre-cum onto Lio’s body below him. Lio moved his hand away, cruelly cutting off the stimulation to his cock again and moving back to his ass. Galo's hole was already so soft and pliable at this point that Lio could slip fingers in with almost no resistance. Galo moaned openly, pulling away from Lio’s cock, trailing spit behind.

“Keep going,” Lio said, halting his fingers until Galo listened.

“So pushy,” Galo huffed. Lio was going to question if that was a complaint or not before Galo continued sucking, the words melting in Lio’s throat. Lio moved his fingers again in return, rubbing Galo’s insides gently. Galo groaned and whimpered, each noise just excited Lio further, electricity flowing back and forth between the two of them. But Lio was careful to not go too hard or fast, not wanting a repeat of Galo finishing early on him. He took his time.

Shit, he was worried about Galo cumming too fast, but if they kept going like this Lio was going to lose it.

Galo’s asshole was already more than slick and loose enough, he decided just then. Lio pulled out his hand and tapped Galo’s thigh a few times to get his attention.

“Changing positions again,” Lio told him.

Galo gave one last hard suck (_ fuck, fuck, fuuuck _) before releasing Lio’s cock and gingerly moving himself off of him. Galo’s face was dreamy when he turned over to look at his partner again. Lio grabbed one of his large biceps and pulled him forward so they could kiss again, dirty and sloppy, mingling the taste of each other together. Galo let Lio lead him around easily, Lio flipping their positions yet again, turning and pushing Galo so where he could lay on the bed the same way Lio had just been.

“You’re so well behaved tonight,” Lio teased, making himself comfortable between Galo’s legs now.

He watched Galo swallow. “It’s kinda hot when you’re like this,” Galo admitted, absentmindedly. Galo was so quick to challenge him any other time of the day, but he had no problem letting Lio take control here. Interesting.

“Do you like being pushed around?” Lio flicked one of his nipples.

“Maybe,” Galo admitted. “Honestly, I never really thought about it much until after we started doing stuff…”

Lio hummed thoughtfully as he let his hands wander over Galo’s chest in admiration. “What kind of things _did_ you think about?”

Galo looked flustered as he tried to work out what he wanted to say. “I guess I just thought about how hot you were and how I wanted to see you naked and stuff. I didn’t think a lot about… how we would do it,” Galo said.

Lio tried not to laugh. His understanding of Galo’s sexual urges were pretty spot on. Galo was never a detail oriented person when it came to plans of action. “Cute.”

“Don’t make fun of me!” Galo said, furrowing his brows and pursing his lips in a way that was, decidedly, very cute.

Lio smiled for a moment before locking his eyes onto Galo’s. “I thought about it,” Lio admitted himself, “fucking you like this.” His hand subconsciously reached down to his own dick, whatever remained of the lube on his hand helping out as he slowly worked himself.

“You did?” Galo’s gaze held Lio’s, bare and honest before each other.

“Yeah. Wanted to make a mess of you so bad,” Lio leaned in for emphasis, letting his other hand glide down towards Galo’s cock, still hard and leaking pitifully despite being so neglected. Lio ghosted his hand over it, barely brushing against his heat. Galo shook, anticipation and lust written all over every inch of his body. It would be so easy to finish him right here, with just his hand and a few coos of encouragement. It would be so easy to give Galo what he wanted right now.

But Lio didn’t want to give that to him yet. Right now, Lio wanted to take.

Lio grabbed beneath each of Galo’s knees and hiked them all the way to his chest, bending his lover in half. The rush of seeing Galo like this was starting to get to him.

Oh, how he wanted to _ take. _

Lio grabbed his own cock, and pushed himself roughly into Galo. Lio realized too late that he should have probably put more lube on himself instead of relying only on the pitiful amount he just used, Galo’s spit from earlier, and whatever work he had done on Galo’s ass. But it worked well enough, Lio was able to go balls deep in a single push, Galo trying to muffle a cry.

“Sorry,” Lio tried to apologize about his rush, but Galo just shook his head, his hands gripping into the sheets hard enough to make his fists tremble.

“_ Keep fucking going, _” he gritted out.

Lio tried to laugh but his breath was coming in too hard. Instead he just pulled himself out and slammed his hips right back in. Lio was convinced that Galo’s ass was made for him in that moment. He let himself fuck into Galo below him, driven by pure ecstasy.

Galo was fucking gorgeous like this. Every part of him was shining with sweat from exertion, highlighting the stunning contours of his body. His wild hair was a mess against the pillows, his eyes clenched shut. He brought one of his fists to bite on, a slew of wonderful noises escaping his mouth anyway and filling Lio with more fuel to keep going.

“Hurt?” Lio tried to ask, still sloppily ramming his cock into Galo anyway.

“Nn… no it’s just, _a lot,_” Galo struggled to get out.

“Good,” Lio said. He finally reached down to Galo’s prick and gripped him, stroking him in time with his own thrusts. The cry that Galo let out shook them both. He wanted Galo completely overwhelmed.

Galo really was wonderfully well behaved tonight. Lio railed into him with no resistance at this point, simply letting himself chase the high of orgasm as he took in all of Galo beneath him. Galo babbled out encouragement and pleas for more. Ahhh, Lio wanted all of him, he wanted to just take, and take, and _take…_

“Lio, m’gonna cum,” Lio caught between all the other things Galo had spewed out.

Lio pulled his hand away from Galo’s dick and pulled out.

“LIO- what the HELL-” Galo tried to reach up to pull him back in frantically.

“Turn over,” Lio demanded hoarsely, “you’re not allowed to cum without me.”

Galo shakily complied, his arms and legs having a hard time listening to him. He eventually got to where Lio wanted him, face down into the pillows, ass up in the air, upper body pressed down into the bed submissively.

Lio returned his cock to Galo’s hole, slipping back in with ease, Galo whined heavily into the pillows below. Lio went straight back to his relentless and chaotic pace, gripping the base of Galo’s cock but refusing to stroke. Galo begged and begged into the pillows, but Lio was intent on doing it his way.

Lio appreciated the expanse of Galo’s back. His upper body muscles were no joke. Like this, Lio felt that Galo’s hourglass silhouette was more apparent. What a fucking bombshell. Lio leaned forward to kiss his back a few times to show his appreciation. His body was almost too much to handle, really. Lio dragged both his hands up from Galo’s hips to his shoulder, then scratching with his nails back down to where Lio could grasp onto his waist and keep railing his cock into him with perfect leverage.

Galo was so loud like this. Much louder than any time they were together before. Galo tried to help it by muffling his mouth in the pillows but Lio could still hear him clear as day. Lio _ loved _ it. Lio gripped harder, trying to draw more gorgeous noises out of him.

It was when Galo glanced over his shoulder, teary eyed and red faced, expression begging harder than any words he could ever say, that Lio let himself tip over the edge, climax hitting him hard. He wished he could have kept fucking Galo like that all night, but release had snuck up on him. Lio seared that image of Galo into his mind as he poured his cum inside of him, making sure Galo didn’t move away an inch. He wanted Galo to feel all of it inside of him.

Lio's dizziness returned tenfold, head throbbing and limbs floating. He had half a mind to just pass out next to Galo right then, but Galo was still whimpering beneath him, ass still clenched around Lio. Lio did his best to return his hand back to Galo's erection and pumped him senseless. Galo ejaculated into the sheets below him after no time, squeezing even harder around Lio's prick. Lio unwillingly let out a string of high pitched noises, his body shot with pleasure, overwhelmed at Galo's body still trying to wring him out.

It was only after Galo was done did Lio allow himself the luxury to gingerly pull himself out and plop beside him. Galo did the same, turning onto his side to face Lio now, eyes lidded and glazed over. Lio scooted himself to be as close to Galo's side as their bodies would allow. Lio tried to sync their breaths as they calmed down.

"I love you," came out of Lio's mouth before he could think about what he was saying. "I never want to be apart from you. Ever."

Galo leaned forward to kiss at Lio's head. "Me either."

"I mean it," Lio said, his voice so quiet he wondered if Galo could even hear him. "I can't stand it. I want to be with you every second of the day." Lio's heart bore its desires before the two of them, shocking even Lio as he said it. He knew everything he said was true, but it scared him to say it. It scared him to make those feelings a reality in his words.

"I know," Galo said, pulling Lio into himself even more, despite already pushing the laws of physics with their proximity. Any closer and maybe they would become the same entity again. "I know."


End file.
